Hollowed
by BreadedSinner
Summary: Sequel to Monsters. Years have passed since Commander Shepard destroyed the Reapers. When a shambling army of mutant Reaper soldiers arises, the savior of the galaxy must come out of retirement and team up with some old friends. But the cause of this resurrection may be more sinister than they expected.
1. Prologue

Mass Effect: Hollowed

Prologue

The first slug cracked the glass, sending a chain of white splinters along the glossy surface. The second one pummeled onto it, and the cracks widened from the impact. The third slug pried through the spaces and pierced the apparatus like a knife jammed into tissue, worked into the nerves.

Commander Shepard gasped and grunted as he limped down a slick silver panel. His once proud suit of armor was reduced to soot-covered shards of darkened metal, glued to his skin with blood and sweat. His legs wobbled as he approached the apparatus, but his firing arm was firm. His hand was torn and scorched, but his fingers still gripped at the pistol, tight on the trigger. Every breath became heavier; thick, grated air scraping the inner walls of his throat upon every inhalation.

Veins crossed the whites of his eyes, his brow burdened with creases and dripping pours. Yet his gaze remained clear, sight never left the machine, the obstruction, the one thing between him and freedom. He fired again, and streaks of blue lightning spurt from the cracks, followed by the sizzles of undone wires.

Faded pictures passed through him as he took another step, as he fired another slug. Transparent images washed over him as the apparatus came apart. He saw the salarian doctor, who gave his life to undo his life's work, taught the commander about redemption. He saw the assassin, who died protecting the lives of others. He saw the loyalist, who sacrificed herself so her sister could have all that she never could. He saw the soldier, an old friend, who stayed behind because the commander made a choice.

And he saw the artificial intelligences, the synthetics. Creatures of compiled parts, held together by some foreign spark. Not flesh and bone, but still resembling something alive, like the vague human shapes they housed themselves in. There were two of which that helped him through his journey. Who had become so much more than their designs, more than what they were built for. The ones who would surely be gone once this contraption was broken, every new crack on the glass another reinforced seal on their fates. Another etching on their graves.

But then he saw her face. Fondness and nostalgia wrapped her frame in a golden filter, like remembering her face in this struggle, this torture, was some kind of drug-induced moment of bliss. He saw the woman he loved turn to him, a warm smile under the shade of her long, umber hair. The curve of her lips, an expression of understanding. Dark eyes that looked upon him, eyes that saw his pain and frustration like no one else could. There wasn't enough time, he thought. Circuits were flaring, wires buzzing in his ears, but they were nulled by his own thoughts, the recollection of her laugh, the way she said, 'Skipper'. She didn't say it enough. There weren't enough chances. There wasn't enough time.

So he squeezed the trigger again.

Reserves of willpower ran dry. With a grunt and a gnash of the teeth, he fired his gun once more. The glass casing erupted, and shattered glass flurried onto him. Shepard, his body worn, watched as the fires ran towards him, like blazing predators. They dissolved his weapon and ate away at his body. He saw the skin of his fingers peel off before his vision turned to black.

Alliance Control saw the whole thing from every conceivable angle. A piece of the Citadel-an elongated structure of rings and white paneling-broke away from the main body like a rejected, diseased limb. By a force unknown to all outsiders and onlookers, it was amputated with fire, while the station remained in place; orbiting Earth, unscathed. The broken piece teetered through space, until it was yanked inwards by Earth's atmosphere, and began its fiery plunge through layers of ether. At the same time, screens displayed images of the giant, living-ship menaces, dropping to the ground like abandoned anchors. Their darkened hulls fell into buildings, smashed into trees, left craters in the earth, but their rays of disintegrating death had halted, their lights of self-awareness dimmed.

Amidst all the panic, soldiers and technicians were scrambling, ships were darting in every direction, consoles were blinking. Questions and cries flooded all at once. Cautious optimism swirled with disbelief. A single voice brought order to the masses.

"Holy shit, he actually did it."

The Normandy SR-2 was still halfway across the galaxy. The crew had rerouted just enough power to hoist themselves from the vast green cradling of an unknown jungle planet. Cortez manned the helm while Joker holed himself up in the med bay, checking and rechecking, to find that EDI's body was still motionless. Limbs were stiff, eye sockets empty. The illuminated, transparent visor that had floated across her face had gone black.

Garrus scrambled to the crew deck, his talons tapping as his mind processed the radio chatter. He bounced in the confines of the elevator as it drifted to the right floor. As the doors slid open, the turian heard gentle murmurs. Unable to distinguish the words, but considering who he was looking for and where she was, he assumed it was some kind of human prayer.

Ashley was on that same floor, the same place, the same position she was in the last time anyone checked on her. Her eyes wavered over the memorial wall, sight pouring into the indents of each letter until their names were as heavily carved into her mind as they were on the plates. Some were familiar, and came easier. There were crewmen she had met years back, when this mess had all started, and the friend she lost much too soon. Some were newer; chance meetings and secondhand stories. Others were completely foreign. Then there was one, David Anderson, in the center of the wall. Unable to look over the entire name, she ducked her head, and resumed her low, breathy prayer. She clenched her fingers against the last plate, glazed over the letters again. When she reached the end, she reared her head, glimpsed at the empty space on the wall, the space the last plate was meant for. She squeezed the plate again as she ducked her head, and she started her prayer from the beginning.

"Ash!" the turian's flanging voice boomed from behind her, beating the beep of the elevator. The human soldier's movements were dulled, but the alarm in his voice still made her shudder. She turned slowly to him, with a cautious gaze. "He's on Earth."

When the Normandy landed, rescue squads were all about. People of every species were coursing through the crumbling human city like cells in a bloodstream. They ran through crevices between rubble, scattered under broken buildings, navigating around the smoking heaps. The fresh carcasses of Reapers were left alone, in the gashes their weight had made, tentacle-like protrusions limp. Barriers and signs of warning fenced them in, but their tremendous bodies were untouched.

"Are you sure?" said Ashley as she ran through piles of rubble.

"Alliance saw it crash here," answered Garrus, struggling to keep up with the human soldier. "And Hackett said the last transmission he got from here was from that part of the Citadel. So if he's anywhere, it has to be... that is, his body..."

"Just shut up!" she cried. "Let me just find him... first..."

The two of them stopped dead at the sight of a giant shard of white paneling, jutting from a crater, crowned with chunks of ruin.

The turian cocked his head, mandibles flaring. "Doesn't look like any part of the Citadel I've ever been to."

He turned to Ashley, but she gave no answer. She had already resumed her sprinting. Without a pause or stretch of the limbs, the soldier leapt into the crater, her boots skidding across the drastic slope of dirt.

"Shepard!" her voice echoed.

"Ash, wait!" said the turian, running to the crater's rim and looking down into darkness, only specks of clarity from the dimmed, foggy sunlight to aid him. "We should... oh, forget it," he said as he dug his feet into the dirt to follow her into the abyss.

The human soldier slid far into the earth, tumbling against a rigid surface of rock and dust. She ran along the shard, threw herself over piles of debris. When she hit a wall of rock and tile, she began grabbing pieces, big and small, and chucked them out of her path.

"Come on, come on..."

By the time Garrus caught up to her, she had tossed aside a small mountain of broken buildings, tunneling herself further into the wreckage. He scurried close to her and began picking off chunks himself. He saw the drops of sweat and greasy strands of loose hair that plastered her face, but she kept tossing away blocks of metal and rock.

"Come on," she said again with clenched teeth. "Come on, damn it, you're Commander Shepard. You've survived so much, you can get through one more, can't you?"

"Ash," Garrus said softly, "maybe we should wait for the others. Liara and Javik could probably use their biotics to..."

"Wait," she as she stopped her tunneling, tilted her head about. The two stood in silence, both jumping in their skin as a faint, meager cough wriggled through the cracks. "Shepard!" she cried again as she resumed throwing everything in her way, stronger and faster than before.

Garrus mimicked her actions and tenacity the best he could, but she seemed to move mountains for every pile he dismantled. A sigh made his mandibles flutter as he looked upon the vast expanse of yet unmoved, smoking rubble. In one moment, his eyes wandered and found a speck of green in the corner of all the black and grey. he squinted as the speck of green shuffled slightly behind a hill of rocks.

"Is that... a Keeper?" he mumbled.

Another cough-clearer, but more wheezing than the last-reeled his attention back. Ashley was out of sight; the turian looked down upon the opening she had dug out and found the human soldier at the bottom.

Only a grainy, dust-filtered ray of light allowed the turian to distinguish the figure Ashley cradled at the bottom of the pit. A bruised and bloodied thing, wrapped in pieces of metal, blackened with soot. A faint N7 symbol emblazoned on the scorched chest plate, dog tags thumping slowly with raspy breaths. There was more blood and exposed meat than skin, all stewing in sweat, bits of hair sticking out like weeds.

"...Spirits," said Garrus, choking on the shock, so great it caused him to say a phrase he never really believed in.

"Garrus, send for help!" Ashley cried out, her voice clanging throughout the gash in the earth. With a nod, the turian was gone. She lowered her gaze back at the body, the jittering head in her lap. "Ssh, it's okay," she said with a feather light stroke of fingers against his brow. "I'm here. Just hold on a little longer."

Commander Shepard's lip trembled, streams of blood spilling from his mouth. "A... Ashley..."

"Don't talk, okay? I'm gonna get you out of here. You're gonna be fine."

"Did I... did I do the right thing?"

Ashley hesitated, choking at the audacity of the question. She shook her head and answered, "Of course you did. The Reapers are done. You did it, Skipper. Now stop talking, there'll be plenty of time for it later."

"Ash..."

"Don't waste your energy, damn it," she said, her voice cracking, "whatever it is you want to tell me, it can wait."

"I'm ready... to go home now."

His words began to fade, and the soldier heard the stomping of feet, cries signaling their location from the surface. As a drone floated down into the crater and scanned Shepard's body, Ashley smiled, her eyes sweltered. "... Aye aye, Captain. Come on, I'll take you home."


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One

Admiral Hackett looked out onto the colony as he walked along a path of gravel. Humble, rounded buildings sprung up from the soil and along knolls of hills like sprouting seedlings. They lined up along fields, which stretched out beyond his sight, in shades of green and gold. Patches of earth were still bare, some houses were still skeletons of paneling. He passed a cemetery that went on for more steps than he cared to count, with tombstones and stone angels of varying sizes. His head twitched slightly at the sound of children laughing, against the evening quiet. Life was going on.

The Alliance admiral advanced along the road, into the makeshift town. As he went further in, children's laughter and chirping birds faded and gave way to crowded voices, one of which was very familiar in its clear baritone, if not more gruff than Hackett recalled. He was certain of who it was, even as distance clouded his frame.

"I'll take a look at it," the admiral heard him say, "Don't worry, I can fix that, no problem... Right, yeah... Shipment's coming in tomorrow. It's all taken care of..."

By the time Hackett reached him, the crowd had dissipated, and there was just one man talking to a young woman. The woman had short, dark hair with a pale face and rounded features, while the man was swarthy and angular. He had a weathered face, weighed with a wrinkled brow, bags underneath the eyes, and the beginnings of faded cuts peeking out of the masking black beard.

The woman went back and forth, eyes batting between the man and her data-pad, "All right," she said, "so ten more families are moving in. You can expect them in the month."

"There's room for all of them," the man said with a nod and a smile. "Thank you, Oriana."

"Of course, Commander Shepard."

"You don't have to call me that, you know," he chuckled, "I'm retired."

"Oh! Right! I'm sorry!" she squealed, blood running across her face. "I knew that. I just..."

"It's okay," said Shepard, "and hey, you're doing a good job, helping me out and everything. Your sister would be proud. She always was. She talked about you a lot, you know."

"I... I know, Commander. Sorry, um, Mister Shepard," Oriana replied with a forced smile. "Anyway, I should get back to it."

Hackett waited until the young woman had walked past him to approach the retired commander. "Shepard," he pitched with a volume and authority that instantly grabbed his attention. "Good to see you."

"Oh, Hackett, Sir," Shepard made a double-take at the sight his former superior officer, throwing up a salute and straightening his back. "This is a surprise."

"At ease, Shepard. You just said yourself, you're retired."

"Fair enough," he said as he relaxed his pose, slumped his back and returned his hands to his pockets. "If you're looking for Ashley, she's back at the house."

"Good, then take me to her. I need to discuss something with both of you."

Shepard shook his head, but acquiesced to the admiral's request and made a beeline through the colony. "Uh, Sir... ?"

"I knew you were living on a remote colony," said Hackett, eyes glazing over his surroundings, strolling within inches of Shepard with his arms folded behind his back. "But I didn't realize you were the mayor."

"De facto leader, yeah. First they just need help putting a house together, then someone's sky car goes on the fritz. Next thing you know, everyone's coming to me. What can I say? Must have one of those kinds of faces."

"Noble of you, but I hope these people have been minding themselves. You are the only reason any of them are still here. I assume you came all the way out here to get away."

"I did, but don't worry, they've been considerate. Throw thank-yous at me like nobody's business. They were all intimidated by me at first, but I think we've reached an understanding."

"I also understand you've finished your physical therapy."

"A few months ago, yes."

"And the hand?"

The retired commander took his right hand from out of his pocket and held it parallel to his face, for him and his former superior to see. "Most people can't even tell," he began as he twisted his wrist to inspect the clean, callous-free fingers, the smooth palm, and tiny stitches that bound it to the rest of his arm. Squinting, and by the glow of the evening sunlight, Shepard could just barely distinguish the tiniest difference in skin tones. "Sometimes even I forget it's prosthetic. Feels fine, doesn't effect my biotics, not that I have much need for them anymore."

"So you would say you're completely back to normal now, is that right?"

Shepard paused, shaking off the involuntary scowl that was forming on his face. "I would say that, Sir, yes. I won't deny it's... due to a mix of the extra bits Cerberus put in there to rebuild me and... just a miracle that I even survived at all. A damn miracle. I mean... how my body wasn't completely destroyed like..." he took a hard swallow. "Like Anderson's."

"I know, Shepard. When we saw part of the Citadel fall to Earth, our hopes of finding either of you alive were... greatly reduced."

"Couldn't even give Kahlee Sanders a body to mourn... not like it was the first time that's happened... but at least it should be the last. It had better be."

"They all knew what they were getting into, that's what they signed up for. You knew that, too."

"I do, I just hate dealing with loved ones and families. Never been good with the sensitive stuff. But it's done now."

"It is. I take it civilian life has been kind to you, then?"

Shepard took in a hearty breath, smiling as the clean air filled his lungs. "It has, it really has."

"If I'm not overstepping my bounds, you didn't think to go back to Mindoir? It's a lot like this place. Completely rebuilt."

"It is, but... it's not the same. Too many memories. Man was not meant to look back, Sir."

"Fair enough. And that apartment on the Citadel Anderson gave you?"

"I thought about giving it away, but it seemed... inappropriate. So I go every now and then. I still do business in the Citadel, but it's too noisy to stay for very long."

"You've earned this peace, Shepard, no matter where you chose to spend it. Which makes what I'm going to ask of you very difficult."

Shepard could not hold back the grumble falling from his twitching lips as he walked to a stoop of stairs and opened the door to one of the larger buildings. "I can only imagine... right this way, Sir."

The admiral stepped into a room of earthy tones, simple white carpeting, cedar wood in the kitchen. He hid a slight raise of the eyebrow by toying with his hat; the sink was full of dishes, and there were books piling on tables.

"Uh, sorry, Sir," said Shepard, "I would have cleaned up more if I knew I'd be having company..." He stepped away, past the foyer. "Ash? Hey, Ashley?"

"Right here, Bas..." purred a voice from out of the hallway. Shepard hopped back, swallowing down a gasp. He tried to say something, but Ashley had already sauntered out of the darkness, wearing nothing but Shepard's black N7 hooded jacket. She dipped her wide hips, flexed her taut legs while leaning against the wall, ignorant of her superior standing in the foyer. "Done with work alrea... she veered her head and caught Hackett in the corner. "Ah!" she yelped, zipping up the jacket and crossing her arms over her torso. "Admira Hackett! I... had no idea! I'm sorry!" she turned to Shepard and shot him a fiery glare. "Bastian, where you gonna tell me?"

"I had no idea!"

The admiral turned away, coughing. "I'll just... excuse myself while you two... sort things out."

A few minutes passed, and Shepard passed out coffee to a sitting Hackett and a fully dressed Ashley. He sighed as he slumped into a seat in his couch next to them.

"All right," he said, "now that things are... settled."

"Like he's never seen a half naked woman before," teased Ashley.

"Then why did you squeal?" he asked with a raised brow.

"Because I was surprised, wise guy."

"To the matter of why I'm here," interjected Hackett, his mouth straightened, expression turned firm. "I'm sorry to interrupt your retirement, Shepard, and your shore leave, Commander Williams, but something has come up."

Shepard and Ashley exchanged puzzled expressions before giving the admiral blank faces. "Um, Sir," said Shepard, "you understand what's wrong with that sentence, don't you?"

"I've looked into it, and as it turns out, there is no retirement plan for Spectres. This is a matter of galactic peace, not Alliance-specific interests."

"I should've figured," groaned Shepard, shaking his head, "it's always one thing or the other... Councilor Hackett."

"I respect your privacy, Shepard, and that you've done more than anyone else could hope to do. You destroyed the Reapers. Every species came together because you rallied them, and now they're rebuilding, better than ever, because you and your crew were at the heart of it."

Ashley shrugged. "Which means you wouldn't come to Shepard unless it was important."

"Exactly so," the admiral took a slow and careful sip from his mug, staring at the bitter ripples before rearing his head back at the two Spectres. "I'll just come right out with it. There have been sightings of Reaper troops."

Shepard slammed his mug against the coffee table and flung himself up. "That's not possible!" he growled. "I destroyed the Catalyst! I sacrificed the geth, all synthetics, damaged the mass relays... I nearly sent the whole galaxy back to the Dark Ages just to be sure the Reapers would die and stay dead!"

"Shepard," Ashley said in her most soothing tone, standing up beside him and placing a hand on his shoulder, the heat of her fingers easing the tension in his muscles. "He said Reaper troops, not actual Reapers... right? Just Husks and stuff, right?"

"Yes. The Reapers themselves are very much inactive. We're still cleaning up the mess they left, but they are still gone. Although these troops-Husks and Cannibals, mostly-have only been popping up where Reaper occupation was heaviest. And mostly, in places where you killed them, Shepard."

Shepard plopped back down on the couch with a grunt. "Okay, not as bad but... still not good news. How could Husks and Cannibals be coming back to life? They're infused with Reaper tech, that was the only thing keeping them alive."

"That brings me to my next point," said Hackett, "their behavior is not the same as when we were fighting Reapers. While still hostile, they don't actively seek out targets. Based on accounts by special forces, they appear to be looking for the Reapers, or whatever may be left of them."

"Are they... finding anything?"

"The Reapers were massive ships, Shepard. They didn't just disappear when you destroyed the Catalyst. We still find pieces, most of them are little more than rocks now."

"And I've expressed publicly-many times-that studying whatever's left of them is unwise."

"And we've been heeding your warnings. Areas where Reapers fell, where any remains are still left, are under quarantine, and any interaction with them is punishable, and that's been heavily enforced."

Shepard folded his arms. "But..."

"But it's a big galaxy, Shepard, and there were hundreds of the things."

"So... what? Some mad scientist pieced enough Reaper tech together and is manufacturing his own private army?"

"I'm saying it's impossible to account for everything."

"Maybe they're just... I don't know, on their last limb?" said Ashley. "They're all partly organic, right? So maybe that small piece of them is still dying. Like how a body is still alive for a few seconds after it loses its head?"

"Huh," said Shepard, "that's a... slightly better scenario."

"Their numbers aren't big enough to be considered a real threat," continued Hackett, "but we'd still like it taken care of before the public gets word of it and there's widespread panic. I'm asking the two of you, Shepards, to deal with this. To wipe them out before they become a problem."

"You're asking, Councilor Hackett?" asked Shepard.

"I won't force the savior of the galaxy to throw himself back out there, not when he's done far more than what duty calls for. I can get any other, plenty capable Spectre agents on this matter and we can forget this ever happened. But I thought it best to approach you first, Shepard, and you, Williams. You have the most experience dealing with them, and it would continue to improve humanity's reputation in the eyes of the Council."

Ashley scoffed. "Like we need to prove anything more to them."

"You know how they can be, Ash," said Shepard, "we won't be able to play the 'spearheaded the movement to save the entire galaxy from certain destruction' card forever."

"I'll give you some to think about it," said the admiral as he stood up.

"No, no," said Shepard, "you were right to come to me first. I can't have someone else dealing with the aftermath, not matter how much I dislike it. The Reapers, these things... they are my problem."

"If Shepard's in, then so am I," asserted Ashley.

"That's what I like to hear," said Hackett, "then the two of you can cover more in a conjoint mission."

"We... won't go together?"

"That's a problem, then," said Shepard, "since the Normandy is Ashley's ship now."

"I'll arrange for something. Just get yourself to the Citadel at the designated time, and you'll get your official assignment and coordinates."

The two human Spectres got up from their seats and saluted as Admiral Hackett let himself out of their house.

"So," said Ashley with a troubled sigh, returning to the couch, "you're really going to do it?"

"I didn't even think I had a choice in the matter, despite what Hackett said. I may be retired from the Alliance, but he's a Councilor now, and I'm still a Spectre, and apparently I always will be. I quit once before, and they still pulled me back in. Move out to the very rim of civilization, and they still find me."

"You could always go rogue."

Shepard leaned in towards Ashley, a sly brow raised as his hip bumped against hers. "As I recall, they already tried sending another Spectre after me, and it didn't work out. She fell prey to my charm."

"Don't even joke like that, jerk," she huffed as she swatted him away.

"Heh, sorry," chuckled Shepard, "but I meant what I said. Can't just have some other Spectre deal with this. I have to be the one. It has to be me."

"You mean it has to be us," she said, wrapping her arms across his broad chest, nuzzling her head into his shoulder. "Can't imagine you would have gotten very far without me."

"Nor can I," he chuckled as he wrung his arms around her waist. "It's going to be difficult getting back out there after a few years, and without you."

"At least this way you won't be distracted by my good looks."

"A fair point. Do I distract you?"

"Hmm... not really. I mean, your ass is usually encased in armor, so..."

"It's probably just as well. I could hear the collective sigh of relief on the Normandy when I announced Shepard the Hardass Commander was retiring."

"Don't say that! The crew loves you, and they miss you. I get along with them well enough, but I don't have that shared history, that bond you had with them."

"I knew you'd be fine. They'll listen to you or you'll make them listen. You have your ways."

"That I do, granted," she laughed.

"And anyway, I'm not sure I'm up for seeing Joker again, not just yet."

"Bastian, it's been three years. He was angry at first about EDI, sure, but... he knows you did what you have to. He knows that's who you are."

"Sure, he says that, but... when I told him I had the chance to stop the Reapers while keeping synthetics alive, keep EDI alive... I knew his heart was broken."

"Avoiding him like a plague isn't going to fix anything."

"Granted. It's just... A lot of the things I've done, throughout my whole military career, resulted in a lot of death. I've never been happy with the outcomes, but I never doubted what I had to do, even if it cost me my own life. But when I was up there, with the Catalyst, I wondered... was I doing it for the greater good, or was I doing it for even the smallest chance to survive, to see peace... to see you again."

"Bas... listen to me," said Ashley, her eyes meeting Shepard's gaze. "You did the right thing. The Reapers needed to be destroyed. Not fixed or repurposed or whatever. Destroyed. And you couldn't die, not after all you put me through. You don't have my permission to leave me, not for a long, long time. You hear me?"

Shepard brought his hands to Ashley's dusky cheeks. She leaned into the right hand as his prosthetic thumb crossed her bottom lip, and she clung to him by the wrist. "Ash," he mumbled, "I had... a few things planned for us, in the coming days. I guess they'll have to wait, but I'd been putting them off for a while."

"Oh, come off with that, you big lug. It's just a little clean-up mission, you'll see. It'll take a week, tops, and whatever fancy plans you have, we'll do after."

"Right... of course. We've got our whole lives ahead of us, it can wait a little longer."

"There you go again, being all serious," she laughed as she walked her fingers along his chest. "Are there... any parts of those plans you want to tell me about now, hmm?"

"Wouldn't want to spoil you now. You'll appreciate it that much more once the job is done."

"Aww," she pouted, "you spoilsport."

"Just... you'll be careful out there, right?"

"Me, careful? It's just some Husks, for crying out loud. I faced worse last week. I should be the one worrying about you, you know. You're the one that's been out of action for three years. Plus, you're not getting any younger, Bastian. I'm seeing a couple more grey hairs, old man."

"Old...? Hey now, I'm only four years older than you."

"Yeah, yeah, save it for bingo, grandpa."

"I don't think I like your tone, soldier."

"Oh yeah? What are going to do about it, old man?"

He grabbed her by both wrists and pulled her closer, a devilish grin upon his face. "I think maybe I should teach you a little respect for your elders. You've got potential, but that doesn't trump experience."

"Experience, huh?" she cooed as she shuffled into Shepard's lap, put her palms against his chest. They slowly rocked against each other with rubs and kisses until his back was on the cushions. She hummed with happiness as she felt one of his hand traverse her hair to push her head down, deeper into the kiss, while the other busied itself along her waist. "Not bad," she purred in a quick breech for air, "but we're going to be apart for a while. You better make this worth my time."

"I think I can manage that," he said with a smirk as his hand found its way under her shirt.


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

"Okay," said the nurse, tools in hand. "I'm just going to make a small incision and... done, the micro-drone is in. Feel anything?"

"No," replied Shepard.

"Good, let's have a look inside."

The Spectre looked through the transparent orange screen that hovered in front of him. It flashed with pictures of bones, bloodstreams, and all the tiny machinery jammed in between. Beyond it was a young woman, holding the omni-tool the pictures came from, studying the inside of his artificial hand with sleek, tiny tools. She had a round, tan colored face, framed in a headdress that matched her white and red uniform. Shepard turned his head and observed the bare, sterile walls of the clinic; the endless void of blank tiles, with coughs and moans bouncing off of them. made him cringe, so he looked back at her.

"We're almost done," she chirped as she reared her head up at him with a knowing smile. "You haven't had any problems with it recently, have you?"

"No," Shepard replied.

"And no interference with the biotics, right?"

"A pile of equipment fell on someone's leg, and I lifted them off, no problem."

The woman chuckled. "Because actually lifting them would have been too much trouble."

"Hey, I'll take any excuse to use biotics. Don't want to get rusty."

"Of course... oh, could you make a fist for me?" The woman's wide dark eyes zipped back and forth, from Shepard's hand to the fluctuating images on the screen. "Everything appears to be fully functional. What are you doing here, if you don't mind my asking? You weren't due for a checkup for another eight months, and I know you hate hospitals and such."

"Maybe I just came to see you, Miss Abdul-Latif."

"That's not going to work on me," she said as she shook her head, laughing, "I've seen you just enough to be over the whole starstruck fangirl thing."

"So I guess this means I'm paying full price."

"I guess it does."

"Well, it's... Spectre business, leave it at that."

"Oh? You're coming out of retirement?"

"Not exactly, although apparently you never retire from being a Spectre."

"I don't want to pry, but... you've already done so much. How... why would they even ask you?"

"I'm not at liberty to discuss it."

"Oh! Of course. I'm so sorry, Mister Shepard."

"You can call me Bastian, if you'd like."

"Oh no, no, I couldn't do that. I couldn't just refer to the man who saved the galaxy by his first name! It would be disrespectful."

"Yeah, I get that a lot," Shepard's eyes wandered again, watching the crowds of patients drift in and out. "You guys always this busy?"

"Yeah," she said, voice lowered to a somber hush. "Even with all the safety precautions after the Cerberus takeover, the Citadel got hit pretty hard. Those that couldn't evacuate were crammed into panic rooms all over the place. I wasn't there when it happened, but my dad was. He painted a pretty gruesome picture."

"I'll bet..."

"So a lot of people needed prosthetic limbs. Not as fancy as yours, but they get the job done. And it sure beats being dead."

"That it does," the Spectre aimed his focus wandered over to her desk. He studied the picture that rested on the surface; him and Ashley, posing with her and a lanky quarian boy in front of a sky car garage.

"But hey," she said, her voice springing with happiness, "most everyone survived, we're rebuilding, and we'll be stronger for it."

"That's the spirit, Aisha."

"Soooo..." she said in a singsong tone, "in the spirit of strengthening bonds... what's the status of you and fellow Spectre Williams, hmm?"

Shepard made a double-take, jaw dropping. "Wait, what?"

"Oh come on, like you don't know! You're going to ask her to marry you, right? Did you buy the ring yet? Can I see it? Did you pick a place to propose?"

"Aisha... I have been very private in regards to my personal life. How do you know about that?"

"Oh!" Aisha popped up in her seat, head tilting, fingers twitching. "A... a little birdy told me."

"Uh huh," he grunted, giving the quarian in the picture a hard squinting. "And does this 'little birdy' happen to be doing odd jobs for Garrus Vakarian, neither of which can keep their mouths shut? I swear, you confide in a friend and half the galaxy knows..."

"Oh, well... come on, Mister Shepard, you know Neekos can't keep a secret."

"Right," he said, rolling his eyes. "How is he doing, by the way?"

"I don't see him as much since he went to work on Palaven, but we still keep in touch. It makes what time we do get together all the more special, I like to think."

"Yeah, that's how I see it with Ashley."

"Oh? You sure you don't have any special plans for her you want to tell me about?"

"Not today, Miss Abdul-Latif."

"You're no fun," she pouted as she watched the screen blink out. "Well, you're all done. No abnormalities to report, you're the picture of health. Good luck on your mission!"

"Thanks," he said as he shuffled his way out of the clinic, "now to get out of here before people realize who I am."

A few careful steps and a long elevator ride later, Shepard walked into a long aisle that branched out to shafts and bridges. The Spectre slammed shoulders with strangers as he trudged through. He grunted and scowled, but proceeded through the mess of people. Crowds were bigger and compressed together, all the people forced to share more transport shuttles.

"Okay, Docking Bay F42, this is the place," Shepard mumbled to himself, eyes batting back and forth from his omni-tool to the illuminated sign hovering above him. As people whirled around him-families in bunches, clusters of workers off in the corners-he marveled at how much of the Citadel was already put back together. Sky cars jammed the skies beyond the glass casing. They floated over the repurposed remnants of destroyed buildings and the forming skeletons of new ones. "I did the right thing," he said under his breath as he approached the bay door. "I must have,".

"Commander Shepard!" an eager, flanging voice resounded with the sliding of the doors. "Your escort has arrived!"

Shepard gave the owner of the voice a quick up and down. A woman; on the short side for turians, with a slender waist and wide bony hips in a pilot's uniform. She had pale green eyes and intricate sky blue markings along the plates of her face.

He watched her throw up her hand and plant her talons on her forehead, and he could not stop himself from laughing. He noticed her brow plates twitch. "Sorry, sorry, it's just... I'm not in the military anymore, you don't have to try so hard. Really, I'd say you're more of a chauffeur."

"As you say, Sir," said the turian, forcing a weak laugh despite her stiff posture. "But Spectre missions are regarded just as highly as any 'official' mission. Rest assured, you will be treated with the utmost respect."

The human Spectre gave the turian pilot another look, with a prolonged glance of the color and curves of her face tattoos. "Hey, are you... is your name Nachthex Caelus?"

"Wow, Spectre Shepard, I'm amazed. You don't have any reason to remember me. We only met that one time you rescued me and some refugees."

"It was a pretty memorable rescue mission," said Shepard as the two of them walked past the doors and onto the dock, overlooking a sleek, dart-like ship, about the size of the original Normandy. "So, then, you'll be the helmsman on the ship taking me to my destinations?"

"Actually, I'll be the shuttle pilot. It's a frigate ship, small crew. It's no Normandy, but we'll get you where you need to go. I... that is, we, came highly recommended for this mission by Primarch Victus and Head Advisor Vakarian."

"Nice to know they're still looking out for me."

"Well, you did save the asses."

"Saved _their_ asses, I think you mean to say."

"Right, how could I miss that one?"

"I assume you've been briefed," he said as the two of them approached the bridge, a fine veil of decontaminating mist enveloping their bodies.

"Yes we have, Spectre Shepard... permission to speak freely? That's what human soldiers say, right?"

"It is, and granted, Caelus."

"It's the opinion of everyone on the ship that without the Reapers controlling them, what people have been seeing can't be more than animals, no more intelligent or dangerous than a few stray nathak. It's disturbing that they're out there, but for the Council to have you, specifically, exterminate these things... seems to be a waste of your time. You shouldn't have to come out of retirement to kill a few leftover Husks."

"I appreciate the sentiment, but that remains to be seen. It troubles me that any of these things are still alive in the first place."

"Of course, Spectre Shepard," As the doors slid apart and the decontaminating mist receded, Nachthex stepped into the ship. Shepard followed, meeting every salute by passing turian crew members. "This is the Arcus, by the way. We have a small cabin and armory all set for you. I should be able to answer any questions you have."

"Actually, Hackett was a little vague in his briefing. What's our first stop?"

"Oh, we're going to rendezvous with the Normandy on Earth, since it was the most recent sighting with the greatest numbers. London, I think the place is called?"

"London, huh... hey, think we can make a quick stop first?"


	4. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

The shuttle zipped through blackened, bloated skies of London. It floated over broken towers, and under crumbled bridges. When Shepard landed, he trudged through piles of rubble. He spotted the Alliance symbol several times, paint scratched and faded, lost among panels of ruin. Off in the distance, he saw the tiniest glint of illuminated quarantine taping. The smell of gunfire and dried blood hanging like musky phantoms.

"Hey, Shepard!" The Spectre looked ahead to find Ashley marching towards him, with James and Jack beside her.

"Ah, you beat me here," said Shepard, nodding at the presence of the other two. They were almost the same as Shepard remembered them. James had more gaunt in his blockish face, a few creases added on his broad brow. Whatever new scars Jack had were obscured with more tattoos and longer hair, though her pale face was touched with a few cuts and stress lines.

"Hey, Loco!" James exclaimed as he grabbed his old commander's hands and shook them. "Good to see you again. You haven't gotten soft, have ya?"

"We'll just have to wait and see, Lieutenant Vega... and Jack, this is a surprise. This is Spectre business, not Alliance."

"Still stationed to the Normandy," said James, slapping his hand on Ashley's shoulder, "where Commander Williams goes, I go. But don't worry, Loco, I've been keeping her safe for you."

Ashley swatted James's hand away. "Sorry, I haven't been able to do much to change his attitude, neither has his N7 training."

"A shame he can't behave himself," said Shepard, shooting a scowl at the lieutenant, "and how far along are you with training, Vega?"

"Almost there. N6. This counts as combat training for my final consideration."

"Well, then, do your best not to screw up. Wouldn't want to have to burn off that tattoo of yours."

"Aha..." James withdrew his boisterous tone. "Glad to see retirement hasn't changed that sense of humor, Loco."

Shepard heard the biotic teacher laugh at his remark. "And what about you, Jack? You're the last person I expected to see here."

Jack had her hands on her hips and a sharp smirk along her face. "It was me and my kids who first found them trying to clean up this mess. Why so shocked, Shepard? Or are you just disappointed you won't be alone with your Alliance poster girl?"

Ashley rolled her eyes. "Yeah, the four of us have been having a real blast."

Shepard's brow raised. "Four?"

"Yeah, Jacob Taylor. He's scouting ahead. From what he's seen it's... well, there's a reason we're doing this one together, Skipper. It's a little messier than I originally hoped."

"I see. Long as we're having ourselves a little reunion, I brought some backup, too."

"Oh yeah? And who's that?"

"That would be the prothean who has been present this entire time," said Javik as he inserted himself into the group, as if emanating from the ends of their collective shadows. "You humans all assume I'm not here because I'm not part of the conversation? I came to fight, why are we not doing that?"

Ashley took a step back, unable to fight her scowl. "Ah, Javik. I see being King of the Jellies hasn't calmed you down at all."

"All right, guys, let's all play nice," stated Shepard with his deep, domineering baritone. "Ash, take us there."

"Okay, but you're not gonna like it."

With teammates at his side, Shepard followed his fellow Spectre through a road that was cluttered with dust and debris. They stepped over toppled streetlights and fields of broken glass.

"You're okay, right, Shepard?" asked Ashley as she looked ahead, wincing at the vast emptiness that claimed the earth beyond a frail fence of broken buildings and quarantine tape. "I mean, this is..."

"Close to where we ran for the beam," said Shepard sternly, "it's been years, but this place is almost exactly the same."

"Yeah, only major place I know of that's totally up and running is the Citadel."

"Speaking of being put back together," added Jack, eyeing Shepard up and down, "Heard you got massively fucked up when you crashed. You sure you're up for this? When was the last time you even picked up a gun? Can you still use biotics like you used to?"

The retired commander growled a bit, ready to speak as he readied his assault rifle, but James interfered with his usual playful tone. "Hey, hey, easy now," he said, "it hasn't been that long, and this is Commander fuckin' Shepard we're talkin' about here. Besides, it's probably like riding a bike for him."

"Like riding a bike? Are you for real?"

"For _him_. I said for _him_."

When Ashley's footing halted at the corner of a building, the group stopped. The sound of boots shuffling against pavement rocks faded, and a string of moans and gargles surrounded them. Shepard's eyes widened as he found an entire section of the destroyed city, a hive of streets and ruin, amassed with Husks. There were wiry grey bodies hanging from traffic lights, worming through windows, and crawling up walls like larvae in a giant, dusty carcass.

"Damn it," Shepard groaned, "they're... everywhere."

Ashley turned to him and smiled as she readied her rifle. "We'll take care of this."

"Right. Where's Jacob?"

"Last I saw he was by that church, few meters west."

"Okay, how about I take Javik and back him up, while you take Jack and James to the clear out the other side?"

"Aww, you're gonna leave me with _them_?"

"Ah... sorry, but I think it's best if we each look after them. Who knows what kind of trouble they'd get into, left to their own devices?"

"True, true," she looked at the other two humans and waved her arm. "Okay, you two, on me."

Shepard watched the three humans fade into the crowd of Husks, carving a path with firing slugs and flaring biotics. He turned to the prothean as his tech armor blipped on, encasing him in an orange glow. "Ready to get back in the game, Javik?"

"This is hardly a game," he said as his body began to swell with a faint green light, "but I will comply."

"...And people say I'm grumpy," he muttered to himself.

Shepard clenched his fists and steadied his breathing as he watched the Husks around him get plucked from the street by wispy green fingers.

_I don't feel it, _he told himself as he twisted his prosthetic wrist, hearing the faint crack of knuckles and gears while both arms flowed with biotic power, _I've done it a hundred times before. There's no difference._

"Commander!" Javik barked, impatient.

"I got it!" Shepard snapped back. With a grunt, he pushed his synthetic arm outward, and the resulting blast of bluish white energy smacked against the suspended grey bodies, chucking them across the sea of human-shaped creatures. "Ha! You see? No problem!"

"Hey!" a voice boomed from the other side of the crowd. A mass of Husks levitated, by a hand of blue energy, unveiling a man in black armor. "Think you can manage that again?"

"You got it, Jacob!" another swing, and the Spectre sent another group of Husks flying, their bodies crumbling against the impact like lumps of dry clay. "Hell, I can do this all day!"

"You might have to!" said Jacob as he lifted another set of Husks, strain cracking on his scarred face as he thrust both hands upward in an attempt to carry more of them, higher into the air. "I don't have any idea where these guys came from, but they're everywhere!"

Shepard threw another sphere of his power and knocked the lifted Husks out of the sky. He planted his feet into the dirt and steadied his breathing as the biotic flares pulsed along the outline of his body.

Javik sprayed slugs at the Husks that ran toward him, and their bodies splattered at his feet. When his biotics resurged, he lifted another group of them. Jacob blasted moaning heads clean off gnarled necks with blasts of his shotgun, giving him time to restore his power. The three of them kept a synchronized motion of lifting and pulling, their movements firm and consistent, like the strokes of oars in a restless sea.

When the three biotics had enough space to walk freely, only a few husks wandering aimlessly in the distance, Jacob reached for Shepard's shoulder, a wide grin barely holding back his heavy, tired breathing.

"Been a while, Shepard."

"That it has, Jacob," the Spectre complied, "what are you doing here?"

"Brynn has family not too far from here. They're having a much easier time fixing up small towns than pooling everything together to fix big cities. I still keep in contact with Alliance special devs, word got out about Husks in London and... well, I was in the neighborhood, so..."

"I won't turn away the help, but doesn't this go a little beyond your security detail?"

"I could say the same about you. Aren't you retired?"

"Not from being a Spectre, apparently."

Jacob chuckled as he began walking again, leading the two through an emptied road, lined with cracked pillars and shredded shrubbery. "Always something that needs doing, huh? Come on, there's another cluster of them this way."


	5. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Ashley tilted her head as she looked upon a mess of Husks through her sniper rifle scope. The rings underneath her eyes crinkled at the sight of them, walking into walls, bumping against each other, some collapsing onto the street, as if giving up on their uncertain lives. Their animalistic grunts, still fresh in her memory, had become surly, whiny groans.

"Okay, now I'm positive something's up," she said, her voice reaching James and Jack through her communicator. "These Husks aren't the same as before. It's like they're just hanging around for no reason."

"Damn, I thought I was imagining it," said James as he fired his assault rifle, pounding Husks so hard into buildings, their wiry bodies made craters in the walls.

"Shit, you're right," said Jack as she followed with a swerving warp field that swooped in on hurdled Reaper troops, setting off a fire that spread from grey body to grey body. The Husks around her fell to ashes, but others further out ran in circles amongst the hoard, carrying and spreading the flames like a bright orange plague. Still others simply dropped to their knees and allowed the violent fires to consume them with no struggle. The former Subject Zero inhaled the smoke and scent of burning corpses, brushed herself off and shrugged. "They're more like zombies than... whatever they were supposed to be before."

"Guess without the Reapers, they don't know what else to do, huh?"

"Hell if I know. Maybe. Long as we get rid of them all, the why won't matter."

"Sure," said Ashley as she shifted her scope to a cragged street. More Husks littered the road, and each that crossed her vision was shot down. At the end of her field of vision was a gash, the buildings and railways ended, leaving only a jagged cliff side. The Spectre spotted little grey bodies squirming about from the edge. "I see more of them ahead. Let's get on it."

She hurried from her position and caught up with the other two, as they tossed and shot at any Husks that stumbled into view. She watched them, the twisted human shaped creatures, right before they were shredded by Jack's shockwaves or had their gnarled torsos torn clean off their legs by James's firing. Their backs hunched, their feet fumbled, and their hands flapped. She flipped through every memory she had of the creatures, every encounter she ever had with them, from Eden Prime, to the very city she walked in just a few short years ago. There was no running this time, no primal urge to bites and gnaw. They were just walking, crawling, wandering. As she proceeded further, along a patch of rotted wooden benches and wild weeds which she could only guess used to be a park, she caught another one in her sights. Before she could raise her rifle, the Husk fell to its knees, tumbled into a trench of murky water, and stopped moving. She broke off from her group and veered toward the trench, just far enough to see more Husks dead in the water, their backs up. Motionless bodies waded in the trench like clumps of garbage.

"What the hell is going on here..." With a shake of the head, she tore herself away from the sight and made a sprint to the side of her group. "Jack, do you remember if they were like this when you and your students got here?"

"Huh... yeah they were, come to think of it," the biotic teach replied, tilting her head sideways in thought. "They were just starting to rebuild this place, or planning to, and then workers saw the fuckers crawling out of buildings. Nobody reported deaths or attacks or anything. They're just... doing whatever. It was a weird first assignment for my new students."

"New students?" asked James.

"Yeah, my first group of kids all graduated. There was this one, Prangely, cried like a little bitch. But they're off to bigger and better things."

"But your new kids weren't expecting anything like this on a field trip."

"Yeah, well, neither was I," she began to talk through clenched teeth, a faint pulse of biotic energy emanating from her as she reeled in her arms and popped out her fists. "We didn't go through all the shit we did, working with Cerberus, fighting Collectors, then the Reapers, just to have these things hanging around, scaring people. Stopping us from starting over! It's like the universe giving us one last middle finger."

"Damn... I kinda like it when you're angry, Sunny."

"...Sunny? Vega, really?" inserted Ashley. "Don't glad me wrong, I'm glad you understand the concept of irony, but that's kind of unimaginative."

"Come on, Hawkeye, don't make me go through a list of nicknames again. That was hard."

"Eh, I don't mind," said Jack with a shrug, tapping her hand against James's head. "It's the best a meathead like him can come up with, isn't it?"

"Oho, so cruel!" the lieutenant laughed.

"Pfft, like you didn't know what you were getting yourself into, Muscles."

"What can I say? I'm a gambling man."

Ashley distanced herself from James and Jack, unable to stop herself from shuddering. "Uh... did I miss something? Pretty sure I was the leader of this outfit. Suddenly I feel like a third wheel."

Jack shrugged. "Only weird if you make it weird, Poster Girl."

"Sorry, Ash, I couldn't wait for you forever. Plus I ain't getting between you and Loco. Retired or not, he's still, uh... serious."

"Ha!" Jack belt out, "that's a much nicer word than I was thinking of."

"All right, all right," groaned Ashley, inserting herself to the front while she switched weapons, her sniper rifle clacking against her back. "Maybe we should get back to, you know, the mission."

The three of them walked a short distance before the arches of ruins stopped, pavement giving way to hard, crumbled soil, broken bricks turned to scattered stone. When what was left of the city was behind them, the land began to slope down, earth sunken in, dragging pieces of the city in along with it. They stood along a chasm of molten lead and blackened earth. It claimed all that they could see.

Ashley made a quick scan of the chasm, bitter winds whacking at her armor. Not seeing any resemblance of life, she began to turn back, when a soft but winding moan poured in.

"What was that?" asked James. "More Husks?"

"Yeah, I think... they're coming from down there," said Ashley as she leapt into the chasm. Her footing firm against the dramatic dip in the earth, she walked along the slope, following the sound. With every step, it grew louder, then it broke into parts; ghastly groans twisted together. She squinted ahead, to the center of the darkened canyon, until a small glint of light broke through the blankets of muggy grey. The groans increased as the light shone brighter.

Ashley slid down to the bottom, the skidding of Jack's and James's boots following. They raised their weapons. As streams of light cracked the muggy darkness, a collection of ragged fingers were raised. A cluster of pods were jammed into the pit, like a nest of humming, veined, pulsating eggs. And from the cracked shells, more Husks emerged, coated with translucent goo. They crept out from the pods and into the world, vacant eyes twitching, drool trickling down the wires in their mouths, arms flailing.

As the three began to fire and end the short existences of the human shaped Reaper troops, a few more figures popped from the pods. They tripped from their nesting and fumbled along the earth. As they wandered towards the soldiers, unaware of any danger or sense of attack, they revealed themselves as fused bodies. Bunches of conjoined, three-legged creatures, stitched at the hips, wobbling into existence. Some shuddered about as two joined upper bodies tugged in different directions, while others were synchronized, their bodies melded at the shoulder with wiring and tubes.

"Well," she said, "this is new."

Balls of light emerged from the rocky slope, transforming the chasm into an inward cone of stone and glowing orbs. Pods were wedged in every nook, jammed in between rocks. The little ships burst open, the intrusion stirring them from slumber. Their bodies were mashed together in twos and threes.

"Holy shit!' barked James, "They're everywhere! And they're all stuck together!"

"It doesn't matter!" snapped Jack as streaks of hot blue wrapped around her body. "Just kill 'em!"

The conjoined Husks stumbled from their pods, stumbling against the drastic slope of the chasm. Some wandered up the chasm, truding and slipping against the slope. Others threw themselves at the intruders, disoriented, like deers into headlights. The ones farther away were shot down, and those that came close to the soldiers were met with the butts of rifles.

One swung for James's arm while another hopped onto his broad back, and two more lunged for his legs. The lieutenant writhed about, shouting obscenities as he tossed them off his armor, chucked them into other Husks, and stomped on their skulls. Their heads mashed into the creases of his sole, grey muck oozing from the cracks, like he had stomped on paper shells filled with sludge.

Ashley was quickly occupied, every angle in her vision consumed by oily, wiry grey bodies. Human shaped creatures surrounded her, vying for her attention, with fingers at her boots and moans pouring in her ears. Her dark eyes kept to her assault rifle's scope. Electrified slugs blasted from her gun with rapid succession, like a scattering lightning storm. The Husks before her fizzled and dropped as white hot streaks reached them.

Jack threw out her arms, one after the other, a violent jerking motion of gaining and receding power, tossing out shockwaves that sawed through their torsos. She lifted her arms up, as though lifting a great weight over her head, and grunted as rings of biotic energy swirled around her wrists. She opened her palms, fingers spread, and all the Husks around her came apart in the air. Arms and heads rained down on the biotic teacher.

"Shit!" she snapped, casting a barrier with a sweep of her forearm, blocking falling arms and legs from landing on her. "They never came apart that quickly. These are like... they're all factory defects."

Ashley took a breath as the last Husk in her sights fell, and the twitching of its body ended. "Yeah, it does seem like that."

"I sure as hell didn't see any like these before, and my kids never mentioned seeing them. They would've told me."

"They acted different too," said James, hands on his knees, taking in air. "The ones before were just there, like they wanted to die or something. These guys were... I don't know, confused."

"Well, shit, they were sewn together."

"Sure, but Husks ain't supposed to think at all, right?"

Ashley parted from the group and bent down to a cluster of pods, studying the veins of circuitry that sprawled throughout each ones. "At least now we know how they're getting around, though not where they come from. I wonder if Shepard found anything useful..."


	6. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

"Twenty six!" Shepard proclaimed as he pushed his hand out, knocking a group of Husks from off their feet like a wrecking ball. Their backs smashed into nearby pillars and their limbs broke apart on impact.

"Ha! Is that all you've got?" laughed Jacob while he lifted creatures from off their nesting place on the church roof. His fist shook as they dwindled in the air. When he relaxed his grip, they plummeted to the ground, blue and grey mush splattering onto the pavement. "That's thirty three for me! Guess you're a little out of practice, Shepard!"

"Is that a fact..." Shepard said in a conniving tone as his gaze narrowed to another cluster of Husks assembled along a fountain of sullied stone. Another shift of his arm and their bodies splashed in the shallow ring, and with his omni-tool flickering, he sent streaks of tiny blue lightning towards them. Electricity spread from one body to the other, until each one on the ground, lashing about. They shrieked and twitched until they slumped together as smoking piles of rotted flesh. "Let's see now," he sneered as he pointed at every fresh carcass, "thirty four, thirty five...thirty eight... forty two... why, that's much higher than your kill count, isn't it?"

"Hey," Jacob whined, "you used tech! You're a dirty cheat."

Shepard turned to his former squad mate with a smarmy smirk. "When did I ever say I wouldn't use tech? I play to win, Taylor."

"All right, all right," said Jacob, shrugging it off, "I guess you've still got it."

"Damn right I do."

The two humans were interrupted by furious stomps against stone. Javik marched past them, body pulsing with waves of green energy. When a second horde of Husks emerged from the church doors, he flung his arms up and swished them downward just as quickly. The creatures mirrored his motions, rising into the air, then smacking back to the ground, with such an angry force it sent their limbs asunder. Still flowing with power, he continued slamming bodies until the entire pavilion was covered in arms, legs and heads.

When he was done, the prothean turned to Shepard and Jacob, his thin upper lip flaring. He flashed his needle-like teeth as he stated, "Fifty," and continued to march.

"Your prothean is a real barrel of laughs," said Jacob. "Can't say I'm jealous for not getting to work with him before."

"Hey, I kinda like him," said Shepard with a shrug.

"Yeah, you would."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just come on. There's more inside."

"Why would they be in there?" asked Shepard as he looked up at the cathedral. A grand structure, layered with intricate arches and pillars. It was largely intact, still stood like a beacon of light amidst a sea of shadows and ruin. The stone was tarnished, the hands of its clock tower torn off, its pillars were stained with blood.

"No idea, but I've seen them go in and out. Like they're living there. Or maybe they know it's a church and they've taken up the faith."

"Ugh," Shepard grunted, "not funny, Jacob."

"Sorry, Shepard," the ex-Cerberus officer chuckled, "didn't think you'd be sensitive about that sort of thing."

"I'm not, I just hate the idea of these things being here."

"...In a church or just here overall?"

"Both."

"Right. Still have no idea how or why Husks are back. Without the Reapers, it... it just doesn't make any sense."

"No, it doesn't, but have you noticed they're behaving differently? They're not hostile, just... confused, maybe."

"I have noticed. Doesn't make me feel much better. But you'll get to the bottom of it, Shepard. You always do."

"That's what I'm aiming to do."

The two humans followed the prothean up the stairs and past the giant stone pillars. Their steps echoed along the shattered rows of pews, throughout the surrounding corridors, and up to the dome above them. The walls were painted with white, gold, and blue, but the battles and destruction stained the interior with a coating of blood and grease. Shepard's nostrils flared at the faint scent of seared meat and candle wax.

"This shouldn't be," said Jacob, "I know I saw them before."

"Maybe we killed them all already," said Shepard.

"I was very thorough," inserted Javik.

Jacob shrugged. "Maybe."

"Don't lose your nerve now, Jacob," said Shepard, "I know it's disturbing that these things are back, but they're still just Husks. Remember why you're doing this."

"You're right, Shepard, you usually are. Usually."

"How is your wife and daughter doing, by the way?"

"Good, real good. Bastila said her first complete sentence not too long ago."

Shepard smiled. "Still can't believe you met Brynn halfway naming the kid partly after me. What did she say?"

"We were at the park, and an elcor happened to walk by. She pointed out to it and said, 'I want to ride on him!'. Brynn must've laughed for five whole minutes."

"That's great, Jacob. I'm happy for you."

"Thanks," Jacob began zigzagging through the archways, bending down to look beneath pews, only to find nothing but rocks and dust. "You know, it's one thing for me to have to leave my family for a while to investigate this, but the Council shouldn't trouble you with this."

"Most of my career was based on Reaper killing," said Shepard as he wandered across the hall, gripping his rifle. "Seemed fitting I be the one to clean up this mess."

"Sure, but even so, after all you've done, all you've lost, you should just be left alone, live out the rest of your days however you want."

"True enough, but it doesn't always work that way."

"Right..."

"Jacob, are you feeling guilty?"

"I did take some therapy sessions, still trying to cope. I mean, here we are, settling down, sometimes it's hard not to think about it. The people who didn't make it."

"You mean Miranda."

Shepard heard the ex-Cerberus officer groan from across the hall. "We never really talked about it, but I think she wanted to settle down, have kids, white picket fence, the whole deal... but she was always on the outside looking in. And now... now I'm living her dream."

"Loss is necessary, and inevitable. You can't blame yourself for people dying in a war, especially one of such magnitude. You did your part, you did what you could, and now it's over. We can live for those who died. Miranda died helping me, Jacob. A lot of deaths are on me, but feeling bad about them won't bring them back."

"Yeah, I guess you know that better than anyone."

"Maybe. I'm not saying you should never think about it or it shouldn't bother you at all, just don't let it consume you. For your daughter's sake."

"I know... what about you? You have plans, don't you? Marriage, kids, whole nine yards?"

"I..." the Spectre froze. "Wait... how much do you know?"

"Oh, I know enough."

"Damn it. Garrus told you, didn't he?"

"Actually, James did... but I'm pretty sure he heard it from Garrus."

"I am going to kill that turian once I finish this..."

"It's okay, Shepard... damn, maybe we really did clean house. Not a soul in here."

"While you two were wandering about like vermin," interjected Javik, who marched straight through to the end of the main hall, "...discussing your offspring and your 'feelings', I have found something that may be of significance."

Shepard and Jacob diverged, passed walls of smeared paintings, into a sanctuary of shattered glass and broken altars, where they reunited with the prothean. Lights peered through cracks in the dome above and revealed a hunk of blackened metal, dust particles dancing all around it.

The sight of it, its curved design, its shade of black-as black as the deepest abyss in space-sent Shepard's bones shaking. His brow furrowed, teeth mashed together, he raised his rifle and sent shells firing at its surface.

"Whoah, whoah, Shepard! Shepard!" Jacob cried, staggering at the sudden blast of noise, returning to the Spectre's side to grasp his shoulder. "It's okay! It's not anything anymore. Just a broken piece of a dead monster. You see?" Jacob gave the Reaper shard a swift kick. "Nothing. It's broken. Dead. Not coming back."

Shepard restrained himself, lowering his weapon. He filtered his anger with slow, coarse breaths. His gaze locked onto the Reaper shard, studying its form, but it remained unchanging; no pulse of activity, no deathly hum, just the gathering of dust. He opened his mouth to speak as a creaking swept in from above. "...Wait," he mumbled, "what was that?"

The three were silent as a slight little creaking noise crept along their heads. They looked up, squinting, and found a web of tiny cracks already forming on the dome above them. Before they could take a step away, the dome burst, and a piling of conjoined Husks flooded through the opening, shards of glass falling with them.

Javik and Jacob pushed away the falling onslaught, reducing the violent rain of shards and body parts to a dribble. A luminous coating of tech softened the impact against Shepard, but Husks dropped on him, latching to his arms, gripping at his chest plates. He grunted as he shook and jerked about, but they were still on him. He felt their fingers squirm into the cracks of his armor, reaching for his flesh like ore in a mine. With a squeeze of his omni-tool, his tech armor burst apart. In flash of orange light, the Husks were blown off him and scattered, twitching on the ground. Shepard switched to his sleek white pistol and delivered to each moaning head a single slug.

The rest were whipped across the room, bodies smashed into pews, by waves of biotics. Silence rushed in, as quickly as the Husks. The three studied all the fallen corpses and found many of them defected in their human shape; some had two arms on one side, some had gashes for faces, others were formed together at the back, sharing spines.

"Whatever this is," snarled Shepard, "I don't like it."

Shepard's and Ashley's group reunited where they originally met, a street corner free of Reaper troops, save for a few motionless limbs. Ashley caught Shepard's rigid gaze before their eyes met, and sighed; that troubled look was all too familiar to her.

"I'll send my report once I'm on the Arcus," he said, "but there's a lot of work to be done."

"It doesn't look good, does it?" she asked in a sigh.

"No, this may take longer than I'd hoped, but... I'll keep in... contact."

Ashley brought her fingers to Shepard's face and smiled. "It's okay, Shepard. We'll get it done."

Shepard nodded slowly until his stony expression began to crack, the smallest hint of a smile on his face. "Yeah, okay, we will. And hey, take Javik with you."

"What?" Ashley did a double-take.

"What?" echoed Javik, just as confused.

"Shepard," she said, "I know you like to worry, but I don't need any protection."

"It's not like that. Jack and Jacob need to head back to the Alliance, you don't have a full squad. Just more eyes and hands, help get the job done faster. I think I'll call Zaeed, see if he's up for this job. Without you, I could... well, I'm somewhat lacking in firepower, and with Javik on your end, you'll have biotics on your ends."

Ashley tilted her head. "Bastian... am I Zaeed in this scenario, and you're Javik?"

Shepard shrugged. "Kind of?"

"I don't think I like that analogy... fine, fine, I guess no sense turning down the help," she said as she motioned to the prothean, "come on, we're headed to Palaven."

"Good luck out there, Ash."

"Yeah, you too."

"Aww, come on, Loco!" James barked, desperate to end the tension. "Is that really how you say goodbye to your lady? We're about to leave, and we all know! Just plant one on her already!"

The Spectre shot his former lieutenant a cold glare. "So much for keeping personal and professional separate."

"Aww, come on, Bas," laughed Ashley, "we were never any good at being discrete anyway. So am I getting my goodbye kiss or not?"

"Well," Shepard said with a smirk, admitting defeat as he bent his neck, the tip of his aquiline nose brushing against hers. With hot breath against her lips, he said, "Wouldn't want to disappoint the fans..."


	7. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

"I'm glad you came, Shepard," said Liara as she leapt ahead to lift a stray branch in their path.

"Yeah," groaned Shepard as he marched patches of mud. "I am just... thrilled to be here."

Blazing sunlight beamed through a thicket of leaves hovering way atop their heads. Shepard looked around the alien planet jungle; the leaves and bushes that surrounded the trail were pale, branches and barks were sleeker, almost serpentine in form. A sweltering haze enveloped his face and clouded his vision; as he breathed it in, he could feel a subtle pulsing in his veins, his biotics thumping within the shell of his body.

"Of all the places in all the planets in the whole fucking galaxy," grumbled a hoarse voice behind Shepard. The Spectre stopped while Zaeed Massani caught up, stomping through mud, batting away glowing insects. "You just had to bring me here."

"I'm not paying you out of pocket to complain, Zaeed," Shepard grunted right back. "And you didn't even give me a discount for saving the galaxy _or _for being your friend. That hurts me."

The mercenary rolled his eyes. "Just keep walking, Shepard."

"What? I thought you would have retired, too. Everyone talked about retiring and going to live off royalties on some far-off paradise if they survived the war. And then I'm the only one who actually does it. You guys are all making me look bad."

"Yeah, well, maybe I've got a few more fights in me. And there's always credits to be made when following you."

"Just admit it, Zaeed. You missed me. You're still upset you couldn't come with me during the last phase of the Reaper War, and you want to make up for lost times."

"Keep. Walking."

"Goddess, Shepard," said Liara, "I think maybe _you _like having _him _around because you look less... negative, by comparison."

Shepard shrugged and worked up a small smile; enough of a shock to the asari that she flinched. "I have a good life. I don't have as much to be negative about anymore..." A frown covered Shepard's face again, "...at least I didn't."

"I see, of course," The asari watched her former commander walk through the path she opened and tried to give him a knowing smile. "I'm sorry there was no closer place for your shuttle to land. But the last known sighting isn't much further, I promise."

"It's fine, Liara. I'm more concerned with Reaper troops popping up again."

"Of course. I've intercepted a few sighting reports, most of them coming from this area... there's nothing but wilderness for miles, though some Husks wandered into the city. They were... confused. Lost, even."

"Sounds like the ones that were crawling through London. They were only vaguely hostile when they first came out of their pods, and when we came close to Reaper pieces."

"This is very troubling, Shepard. You did everything right."

"That's what I want to believe."

"Husks have been formed in multiple ways, though they're all of Reaper origin. Perhaps there is an intact artifact somewhere that's still creating more."

"Then we need to find this thing and destroy it."

"Agreed."

The Spectre, the Shadow Broker, and the mercenary continued down a trail of boiling muck and baking vegetation until they came into a wide clearing. Twigs mashed with dirt, rocks, and blood. Shepard squinted as foreign obtrusions stuck out from all the mess. Drawing closer, he distinguished them as lumps of meat, clinging to cracked bones. Feathers and scales dotted the clearing throughout.

"Well, that's nice," said Shepard with a shrug, "keep your eyes open, everyone. Looks like we might have some company."

"Actually, Shepard," said Liara, "there are no predators indigenous to this part of Thessia. That is, there's not supposed to be any."

The Spectre groaned as he rubbed the sweat from the creases of his brow. "So something that doesn't belong here is eating animals. That's just super."

As the three continued walking, through the clearing and back into the maze of dripping jungle, a shattering screech sliced through the trees and the bloated air.

"Son of a bitch!" hollered Zaeed as he clapped his hands to his wringing ears.

"By the Goddess," Liara whimpered, shoulders shaking, "that sound... it can't be..."

"It's close!" the Spectre jolted forward, boots gushing against the soft earth. "Double time, people!"

They ran through the jungle, zipping past curtains of leaves. They leapt over puddles and sprinted through patches of stripped carcasses. The screams got louder with every bound, and they multiplied and echoed like ripples in stirred, violent waters. The screams rattled his bones, but the commander kept running.

When the screams were close, clawing at their minds and ears, the trees and bushes parted wide, framing a vast opening like a set of wild teeth. Decrepit roots coursed along the ground like dead veins. They flowed up and down, entangling themselves onto a long bridge of white. Shepard spotted the bridge hanging over a gaping maw of rock and dirt. It was connected to a massive building, with layers of ring shaped clusters.

"I think it's coming from there! Hurry, on the bridge!" The sound of their hurried steps were lost in the growing screeches. The foreign, animalistic screams washed over the buzz of the bridge as it began to close, panels shifting into the building. Shepard managed to thump onto the paneling before it made a complete retraction, Liara made a swift leap and a feather light landing, followed by a thud, a crash, and a throaty shout behind her. "Zaeed!" Shepard shouted as he snapped his waist back, arm extended and glowing. Energy lashed out from his fingers and flew to the mercenary's frame, craning him upward. Shepard saw Zaeed wobble in the air, his feet grazing the bridge, tethers of biotics fading. An ache clamped onto the Sprectre and he winced; his fingers curled, biotics withdrew. With a gasp, Liara flung her powers out like a lifesaver and roped the mercenary to the entrance.

"Almost got me killed before any fighting even started," growled Zaeed, "not exactly how I pictured dying."

"Sorry, Zaeed," said Shepard, holding his hand to his face as he made a fist and released over and over again. "I don't know what happened."

"Your hand," said Liara, "is it... functional? Are you all right, Shepard?"

"My hand's perfectly fine, even got it checked out before the mission started. It's not as though that's where my powers come from anyway, it's just... damn it, it must be the heat getting to me, let's just keep going," Shepard tried to force down the ache, swallow the tension as he walked under the tunnel-shaped entrance. "And here I was hoping I could get a discount for saving your life, Zaeed."

The mercenary grunted. "Way things are going, there might be other chances. I should hope your cozy new life hasn't made you incompetent. Softness will get you, or one of us, killed."

"You worked with such a positive bunch on the Collector mission, didn't you?" said Liara.

"Right," said Shepard, eyes rolling, "because I always work with such sunny, optimistic people. From Wrex, Joker and Javik, even Garrus, ball of sunshine he is."

"Speaking of Garrus, he seems to have gathered some... interesting intel even I wasn't aware of. Of course, my knowledge of human rituals is a little spotty..."

"Wow, where's that horrific Banshee shriek when I need it..."

"I'm sorry, Shepard, I thought maybe you needed to get your mind off things for a moment. It's nice to think of what you're fighting for, isn't it?"

Shepard sighed. "Yeah, it is. This whole business is just unsettling."

"Shit, 'unsettling' he says," said Zeeed, "let's just kill the fucking things already."

"Sounds just fine to me."

The main hallway's paneling was smeared with purple blood, as though wild animals were left to kill each other within, chunks of meat discarded in the corners. Further in there was a wide room layered with platforms, encased with glass above, where evening stars peered through the ceiling. Statues of asari situated all about, as if to judge the actions of those who entered the arena. They were met with the grumbling gurgles and high pitched screeches. Husks and Cannibals swarmed throughout, some lurking in the corners, some lost in piles of meat, others bumping into each other and falling like drunkards.

Shepard scanned the area, uncertain. Empty eye sockets caught his gaze, but did nothing. Amidst all the twisted grey flesh and mashed purple flesh, he caught a figure of bright blue in the very center.

"Clear a path for me," he commanded as he marched inside. Semi-automatic rifles and submachine guns beat with heavy fire, the Reaper troops falling with little resistance. Shepard knocked away Cannibals on every side with waves of his hands until he reached the middle. A gangly pair of hands, threaded with biotics, lifting a cluster of creatures into the air. Their bodies up, Shepard was able to clearly see an asari in red armor.

"Samara!" he said, "allow me," and he flung his energy to her suspended victims, the blue and white bloom of their clashed powers tossing the creatures in every which way, shredding their flesh.

The justicar nodded in quiet thanks, her pale eyes clear with focus. Biotics still swirling, she resumed her stance and reached outward. Shepard turned as the shriek barged again into his ears, its closeness curling his spine. Shepard found a Banshee, grappled with pain from Samara's biotic field. It a meager creature, compared to what he remembered. Its body was small and twiggy, still a hint of asari blue in some parts, with two screaming heads, two thin necks sewn onto one set of slender shoulders.

"God..." the Spectre huffed as he stepped back, sending slugs into the creature's faltering barrier. The two-headed Banshee wailed and cried-a pitiful, childlike noise-flimsy streams of energy flickering from its elongated fingers. His powers resurging, Shepard tossed a warp field, bursting against Samara's clutching field of draining biotics. With one last yell yanked from inside, the creature fell, her screech pattered out to a whimper.

As the two-headed creature died, Cannibals and Husks slinked about, blood and chunks dripping from their mouths, whirling along a flying mass of dark energy. Bursting slugs tore them from floating suspension. Shepard readied another warp field, fingers twitching, but he flinched as his boots were swept from the ground. Before he could let out a shout, the Spectre hovered over the floor. As he was tilted and turned, his own body betraying him, he was met with the long, rickety, pointed claws of another Banshee. Two faces shrieked at him, sharing one set of wiry tentacles, their darkened skulls melted together. He was pulled further inward as it curled its fingers, the tips scraping against his chest plate.

"Shepard!" Zaeed hollered as he rushed towards the Banshee, a concussive blast firing from his barrel, through the creature's thin purple barrier, and punching into one of its heads. The force was so great it yanked Shepard from out of its biotic grip, and as it turned to discover the disturbance, it was met with the hammering of the rifle's ammunition. It screamed and jerked against enemy fire. Samara followed the mercenary, siphoning the life from the Banshee with waves of purple energy, ringing around her wrists. With every passing moment, the creature became weaker, its steady floating reduced to limps in the air. It looked upward and pushed itself higher, a flicker of light as it tried to teleport away, but the light died as a slug flew into its back.

Another slug pounded against its shoulder, and it fell to its knees, whimpering and crawling. Zaeed shook his head and grunted, almost enough to feign pity for the pathetic creature. He marched towards the Banshee as she shook putting one hand in front of the other, Samara's biotics still draining it, making it tremble in pain. He delivered a shot to each head, and stomped on each of them to end the squirming.

"Shepard, are you okay?" cried Liara, her hands on the Spectre's arm as she tried to hoist him up.

"It's fine, I'm fine, Liara," said Shepard as he swatted her hand away, returning to his feet with a shudder.

"Are you sure, Shepard? I mean... you..."

"I just got taken by surprise, that's all. God, if I never see another Banshee again, it'll be too soon."

"Those things, they were all... mutated. Disfigured. Disoriented. They were like this on Earth?"

"They were, although I don't recall Husks and Cannibals going on hunts. Cannibals consume each other for more power, but it looks like they were just... eating."

"Yes, I noticed that, too," said the Shadow Broker, her hand on her mouth in contemplation. "It's almost as if they're... lacking in purpose, and are living in anarchy."

"Fucking things," said Zaeed as he tapped the dead Banshee with the toe of his boot, "not even worth the bloody bullets."

"Actually," inserted Liara as she and Shepard walked towards the mercenary and the justicar. "They're not bullets, they're..."

"Sweetheart," Zaeed said plainly, "I'm aware."

"Funny running into you here, Samara," said Shepard.

"We share the same sentiment, then," she responded, "we are in one of several training grounds for new justicars. It is where new initiates studied the Code, take their vows, try to survive. It is also where veterans honed their skills and reflected on their purpose."

"And that's what you were here to do? Before discovering these things had taken over the place?"

The justicar was silent for a moment, body stiff, before she turned and walked into the next hall. "Come," she stated.

The corridor was far cleaner than the arena, though Husks limbs and puddles of blood and oil were scattered about. It branched out into other halls; all curved, clean structures glazed with serene white steel, with guardian asari statues hung throughout. "As you may be aware, justicars seldom left asari space before the war. We preferred to be... I believe the human expression is, 'hidden in plain sight', never too far from others, so that we may watch over from a safe distance. As it were, Shepard, we are not far from where you and your companions first landed on Thessia, the place that first spread destruction over our home world."

"We've been rebuilding," chirped Liara, "it's been a slow process, with the damage to the mass relays, but everyone, in all the races, have been doing their part."

"Indeed. I came here hoping to find other justicars to assist, and to eventually restore the order. However... I have been searching since the end of the war. If there are any left, they may not wish to be found, and there may not be enough of us, even so. It is very possible that I am the last justicar."

"That's awful... justicars have been a part of asari culture for so long..."

"The war took a heavy toll," said Shepard sternly, "we've all suffered losses. Things we can't get back. Things are not going to just go back to the way they were in another decade. I am sorry, Samara. If nothing else, your people will hopefully remember what the justicars did for the war effort, what they did for me."

"Perhaps," said Samara in her solemn voice, "though it does leave me... at a loss. On what to do next."

"Maybe you could recruit new justicars?" asked Liara, "you could make a new order, on your own terms?"

"Possible, though it would be a daunting task. Initiates were always in small numbers, and the training caused multiple casualties."

"That's why you could do it your own way. Maybe not so punishing?"

"... It is... still possible, though the training was harsh for a reason, the Code was absolute for a reason. I have no illusions about the galaxy. We may be free of Reaper threat, and what is normal will be altered, as Shepard says. But there will always be injustice, and that is never soft or easy, so the punishment cannot be soft either. That much will always be a constant."

"You could always come along with me," cackled Zaeed, "we made a pretty good team back there."

Samara paused, a slight tilt of her head and flare of her lips. "I am flattered by your offer, but I do not believe it is the correction of injustice you are seeking."

"Samara," said the Spectre, "what about your daughter?"

"Falere is well. I visit her at the new monastery frequently."

"Maybe you'd be happier spending more time with her than trying to restore the order?"

"We have disagreed on many things, Shepard, but I would have thought we would share this one. There will always be injustice, there will always be work to be done."

"Sure, but there's... a point. Can't fix everyone, never going to be a perfect galaxy. I've done all I can do, so now I'm living for myself."

"Yet here you are," as Samara finished, she stepped into a rounded room of glass walls, the tops of trees and clouds of dusk brushing against the outside. Opened pods of black framed the inside rim. They were heaping piles, scraped out and abandoned, smoke still whisking out into the cracked roof. In the heart of it were chunks of black metal, some of which resembled a sleek tentacles.

"These are just like the pods in London," said Shepard, "they're coming from somewhere, someone is sending them... and then... those are..."

"A dead Reaper crashed not too far from here," said Samara, "based on what I've seen, the Husks, the others, they seem to be gathering pieces, like scavengers. Though I do not know if they have a reason for it. They simply seem... compelled."

"So someone is sending them through these pods to gather the remnants of Reapers?" said Liara.

Shepard groaned, running a hand across his brow. "I guess we can at least take comfort that they're doing a piss poor job at it. Come on, let's check out these pods, make sure there aren't any of those things left..."

The two asari headed inward to study the pods. Shepard began to follow when Zaeed hand clapped onto his shoulder. "Look," he said, "I know nobody deserves to retire more than you, but if you're gonna do this, you have to have your head in it."

Shepard snarled, jerked himself out of the mercenary's grip, and looked away. "Damn it, I don't know what happened. My prosthetic doesn't interfere. My therapy went fine. I'm still in top physical condition. Nothing wrong should have happened."

"Just make sure it doesn't happen again. I don't want you dying before you pay me, I don't want to have to try and console your pretty soldier girl, and I sure as fuck don't want you failing after all the shit you've been through. Not now."

"Right, right. It won't happen again. Thanks for the, uh... talk, Zaeed."

"Fine. But seriously, what do you think my chances are with that older asari?"

"Ugh," Shepard groaned, "I don't think she's your type."

"They always say that at first. Think you can put in the good word for me?"

"I'll... think about it. Just remember, 'find peace in the embrace of the goddess' means, 'no'."


	8. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

"So this is what a turian city looks like..." Javik said, a low rumble of contemplation in his voice as he looked around, studying the militant order of every district. Orderly and upright, even in their crumbling, faltered state. Houses, fortresses and compounds were arranged upward on the hills, the highest broken towers reaching for the glaring sun. Squinting his four eyes, the prothean could see towers lined along the horizon, dazzling in silver.

"Actually, this is what _the remains _of a turian city look like," said Garrus. "Palaven was among the first to get hit, remember? It's going to take years before everything's up and running again."

"It's the same with Earth," added Ashley, "but we're all getting there."

The turian nodded at her. "Right. We don't need these things popping back out from dark space or wherever they came from. We've come too far." The turian cop-turned-vigilante-turned-advisor was about the same as Ashley remembered. He still managed to maintain that look that reeked of dry wit and overconfidence, even without the parts a human would use to express them. Something about the shift of his brow plates and the flutter of his mandibles. There were a few more cracks along his plates, just over the faint, purple-hued patch of hardened flesh; the dim remnant of a heavy scar. "How is Shepard doing, if I may ask?"

"He _was _doing well, until mutant Husks came back for no known reason."

Garrus's mandibles flared with a flanging chuckle. "Yeah, that'll ruin anyone's day."

"I think he's a little mad at you, though he didn't say why. Apparently you've been sharing _intimate details _that were not meant to be shared."

"Oooh, scuttlebutt," snickered James, "you're in trouble now."

The turian folded his arms in defiance. "I have no idea what any of you are talking about. Not at all."

"He did tell me to tell you, though," she said with a smirk, "whenever you're ready to retire, he's had his eyes on a timeshare. Somewhere 'warm and tropical', I think is how he described it."

"Heh, well you can tell Shepard I'll put it on my to-do list... right beneath every issue every member of my species has."

"Whatsa matter, Scars?" said James, "being head honcho not all it's cracked up to be?"

"I'm not the one in charge, Primarch Victus is, I'm just his head advisor. Although sometimes being second in command can be just as... straining."

"Right," Ashley gave a quick look around, "hey, we really should get going. What are waiting for again?"

"Oh, we're waiting for my, uh, assistant to get back. He was helping me assess the damage to the city when we found Reaper troops. Now he's scouting ahead."

"Your... assistant?"

"Head Advisor Vakarian, Sir!" a spry, filtered voice popped from nowhere; actual nowhere, as Ashley observed. She jittered in her armor at the shock of the disembodied voice, and turned her head every which way, only to find her teammates as confused as she was.

Garrus shook his head and sighed. "Parha, your cloak is still on."

"Oh? Oh! Right, sorry!" The voice said as a tall quarian man wavered into visibility. He was lightly armored in blue and black, as if to match the palette of Garrus's armor, strapped in belts with pockets and grenades latched on them. "Hello there, everyone," he said as he turned to the group with a wave, "It's an honor to get to work with you... oh," the movement of his head stopped when his visor aligned with Ashley. "Oh, Keelah... it's you! It's really you! I don't supposed you remember me..."

Ashley tilted her head. "I'm, uh, sorry, kid, it's a little harder with quarians. What with the masked faces and all."

James shrugged. "I always wondered why they wore helmets were you could only see their noses in the right light. Wouldn't it have been just as easy to make clear ones?"

"Parha!" Garrus snapped.

"Oh!" the quarian hopped, throwing up his hand in salute. "Sorry, head advisor, Sir!"

"Give me a status report."

"Sir! There's a collection of them on the outskirts of the city, five klicks due north of us, across the bridge. The do appear to be highly disoriented and unorganized, as previous reports have implied."

"Good work, Parha."

"Wait a sec," said Ashley, "Parha, that sounds... kind of familiar..."

Garrus laughed. "Maybe if he fell into your arms again and touched your hair, you'd remember."

"Wait... yeah, I do remember! You're that refugee kid we rescued from Cerberus. Neekos'Parha, right?"

"Yes, ma'am, that was me," the young quarian man responded, trying to control his excited squirming.

"Well, kid," she said, giving him an up and down, noting the vague lanky, awkward teenager body from the back of her mind had become a lean, lithe, more adult one. "You grew up, I'll say that much."

"You cannot tell, but I'm blushing, ma'am."

"All right, Parha, go on ahead, take your position."

"Sir, yes, Sir!" Neekos said with energy as he saluted once more and sprinted down the silver street.

"Let's get this done, then," said Ashley as she motioned James and Javik to follow her and Garrus.

The four of them walked past the rings of broken fortresses, across an arched bridge that carried them over a wide expanse of water. In the distance, the broken city glistened against the sunlight like rippling, golden glass. As they drew closer, there was still dark gunk and wreckage floating about, blackening the surface.

"So what's the story there?" she asked while watching Neeko's frame get smaller and smaller. "Is he your intern or something?"

"He was doing salvage work... well, by 'salvage work' I mean 'dismantling my skycar's circuit board' when some pirates showed up. Shot their leader clear through his helmet with a pistol. I was impressed, so I've been training him. He's been aiding me with... issues that fall out of turian jurisdiction."

"Huh," said James, amused, "kinda sounds like he's your sidekick."

"My... what?"

"Oh my God, yes!" cheered Ashley. "He's like to you what you used to be to Shepard! That's adorable. Full circle."

"That... that's not true."

"It _does _appear that way," noted Javik. "The part where you imitate the commander, not the 'adorable' part."

"Well... I like to think I've done a good job molding him. He's not much for sniping, though, needs to work on his concentra... Parha!" the turian barked, "I see your omni-tool! Stop messaging your human girlfriend! You're on duty!"

Ashley heard a high-pitched, "Sorry, sorry, Sir!" muffled by the growing distance.

"Ah, kids," she mused, "and I see you play the role of grumpy, hardass team dad almost as well as Bas did."

"I'll take that as a compliment. It's effective, if nothing else."

"Sir!" a faint voice cried out from ahead. "Head Advisor Vakarian, Sir!"

"What is it, Parha?" Garrus shouted, "use your comm! You're too far... ugh, kid doesn't think sometimes..."

"Sir!" Neekos's voice shot clearly through Garrus's communication device. "I've spotted more beneath you! Scanning them now!"

Through their visors and helmets, Garrus, Ashley, and James found translucent, bright orange lights, blinking in a trail like clusters of fireflies. A sprawling mess of Husks, their parts stitched together, crawled up from underneath the bridge like parasites from the dark, the orange lights fixed on their heads.

"Not a problem," said Ashley, "these things are cake now."

"What? They weren't 'cake' for you before?" sneered Garrus.

Ashley was about to counter to the snarky turian, but there was a jolt in the movement of the Husks. What began as crawling, limping and bumbling turned into a sharp and organized march. Their slumped backs straightened, trench like eyes widened, wire-jammed mouths snarled.

The four did not wait for an explanation. Javik pulsed with waves of green and hurled the vanguard of mutated Husks into the air. Ashley and Garrus catapulted slugs from their assault rifles, smashing against their frail bodies, limbs raining down from the bridge and into the water. A fire symbol popped from the side. As the frontline fell, he pelted the small army with shells that burst into flames at the slightest touch of rotted flesh. As flickers bounced from body to body, the soldier tossed a grenade, and the rounds within expanded into a halo of flames loose limbs.

The army fell quickly, and the tumbling of their enflamed carcasses revealed a Marauder. It was a wiry, gaunt creature; its carapace held together by strings of blue tendon. It snarled and grunted, as if angry by the failure of its minions. Streams of red spewed from its claw tips, and as it grew, the Marauder held its hand up and lashed out. A single ribbon of blood-coated energy snapped and lashed towards the Husks like a cat o' nine tails. Every branching stream licked at the bruised and burning skin of the Husks like tongues of acid. Bits of red light fell onto the human shaped Reaper troops, coating them in a film of burning energy, compelling them to stand.

"Okay, so..." said Garrus as he stepped back, "maybe it won't be quite as 'cake' as I originally intended. Parha, you didn't say anything about Marauders!"

"They weren't here before!" the young quarian exclaimed. "I swear, it was just Husks!"

"Minor setback," said Ashley, voice still ringing with confidence as she nudged the turian. "You can still hold a sniper rifle, can't you?"

"Oh, I'm going to make you regret saying that." Garrus growled as he adjusted the scope of his sniper rifle. As soon as his sight aligned with the head of the turian-shaped creature, it toppled over in a bloom of blue blood from its skull. With a chuckle, his scope quickly swept to the craniums of the risen Husks, pinning them down and knocking them off the bridge before they could continue their march. "Feeling a little sluggish today, Williams?"

"You wish," she countered as she extended her scope and locked onto another Marauder, leading another troop of claimed Husks from the shoreline on the other side of the bridge. The turian-shaped creature let out a gargling roar as he whipped its small army, but its battle cry was stopped silent as Ashley fired. Beaming with red energy, the mutated Husks still ran across the sand, climbing the bridge, and she picked them off, their twisted bodies scattering in the ocean.

"I have had enough of your little contest," snarled the prothean as he waved his hand. His outpour of biotic disease clutching the Husks and dissolving their bloodied shields. While the creatures were in his flowing green clutches, the prothean sent rapid waves of slugs into their chests. He flung out his other hand and brushed oncoming Husks into the ocean. "I have already killed more than the two of you combined."

"I had forgotten how much fun Javik was," chuckled Garrus.

"So much fun," noted Ashley.

"Um, Head Advisor Vakarian, Sir," Neekos's voice slipped in through Garrus's omni-tool. "They keep coming in, and I'm not sure from where. I'm getting a little overwhelmed her, two o' clock."

"Little busy right now," said Garrus, picking off Husks as they continued to flow in from across the bridge. "Just cloak and get out of there."

"My cloak is still recharging!"

"Let me," said Ashley, "James, help Garrus with crowd control. Javik, if you don't mind?"

"Of course... Commander," said Javik as he and the Spectre marched off to the side, hopping off the bridge while the main body of the horde was gripped with pounding fire and flaming ammunition.

Ashley switched back to her assault rifle as she ran along the shore, a hailstorm of slugs flying from her barrel. She aimed her gun up high when she saw the Husks get lifted overhead by Javik's ancient biotics, slamming them out of the sky.

"Watch out!" the quarian's filtered voice cried from ahead, a ring of Husks encircling him as his frame flickered in and out of visibility. Neekos bashed in the head of one with the end of his shotgun, swung it like a baseball bat at another, then deftly rolled out of the horde's grasp. He turned to see Ashley and Javik approaching, rifles pulsing with fire, and he ripped a grenade from off his belt. It fell into the crowd, getting lodged into a gaping, moaning mouth. Electricity flared out, their bodies consumed in crackling white and blue. The Husks twitched and flailed as lightning crawled through the gaps in their bodies. Javik gripped the resisting troops with his biotics and slammed them down, oil and blood staining the sand. Ashley delivered another concussive shot to the remaining Husk, and the field was clear.

"Ooh, nice grenades," said Ashley, "you work pretty well under pressure, kid. Good job."

"Oh!" squeaked Neekos, his head batting about as if to find the person Ashley was complimenting. "Thank you!"

"Do not praise him just yet," said Javik, "lest the young think too much of themselves before they are properly tested. There is one left."

The young quarian turned and saw one last Marauder, arms swinging from its chest by thin strings of muscle and wiring, lashing its head and roaring in a refusal to die. He hopped at the sight of it, as though his skeleton were to rip from out of his suit, but the turian-shaped creature's defiance was silenced by a swift, hammering slug from Ashley's rifle.

"Wow," the young quarian side in a relieved and exhausted panting, "looks like you saved me again. It's a little embarrassing this, time, since I'm supposed to be all trained now."

"Don't worry about it, kid," she responded, "you're still young, you're going to make mistakes sometimes."

"Mistakes of this variety could get one killed," stated Javik, giving a stare so intent and cold, it made Neekos shiver.

"He's a big pussycat, deep down," she said, laughing off the prothean's grim disposition.

"W... wait..." emerged a gargling voice, a mechanical grind twisted in its tones. The three turned to find the Marauder, still clinging to life, a single arm shaking as its fingers snapped off. Its mouth warbled and its wilted mandibles snapped off like leaves from a branch.

"Keelah!" Neekos shrieked as he hopped into Ashley's arms. "It talked!"

"Yeah, they're... definitely not supposed to do that," said Garrus as he and James approached.

"This is most troubling," said Javik as he held out his pistol, "I shall dispose of him."

"Hold on a sec," said Ashley, looking down at the quarian, "kid, you wanna maybe let go?"

"Oh... sorry," said Neekos as he detached himself from Ashley. She marched towards the dying Marauder, her rifle tight in her grasp.

"Okay... you got something to say to me?" she said, pointing her gun at the Reaper trooper's head. Her brow twitched, fingers tapping on her weapon, unsure of what to make of the situation.

The Marauder's head jumbled about, blue blood dripping from its maw. "We wa... were su... supposed to... a vessel..."

"Vessel? To what? Where are you all coming from?" Ashley jabbed the creature with the end of her rifle, but it fell over, sinking into its own blood. "Damn it."

"Holy shit," gasped James, "of all the things I thought I'd see today..."

"Too bad it died before it could explain anything," said Garrus, "isn't that always how it goes?"

"Well, we did shoot at it before," said Ashley as she stood up. "Guess there's nothing left to do here but clean out the pods they came from... hey, Garrus, we're heading to Rannoch next. Got time in your busy schedule to come with? It'll be like old times, I know how much you love those."

"Hmm, that's true, I _am_ all about things being like old times," said Garrus, "and it is important we take care of this as soon as possible... all right, count me in. Primarch Victus can handle things by himself for a while."

"Nice," said James, "Scars is on board!"

"Oh, um, Head Advisor Vakarian, Sir?" peeped Neekos, "what shall I do in your absence?"

"Can't he come too?" Ashley asked asually.

"You... actually want me to come...?"

"I don't know," said Garrus, "he's not fully trained yet, and this is serious business."

"Aww, come on," said the Spectre, "kid's got to learn somehow, and he'll have all of us. Besides, at least he has _some _training. You realize Liara was an _archaeologist _ and we just brought her along to fight Saren like she was a hired gun?"

The turian flinched. "Huh, okay, granted, but..."

"And Shepard told me you guys had a thief with you along your Collector mission. I'm sure she did fine, but what the hell did you need a thief for? Did the Collectors have diamonds or something?"

"Sure, but..."

"And I get that Wrex Junior was fed training in a tank, but in a way, you guys just ripped him from the proverbial womb and put a gun in his hand."

"A fair point..."

"And remember Maya Brooks? I know she turned out to be some crazy evil-English-voice Cerberus defect, but we still brought her along thinking she was a desk jockey."

"I get it, Ash."

"I'm just saying..."

When the city was purged and the mission done, Ashley and her teammates were carried off from shuttle to Normandy. Ashley walked into the cockpit with a forced, twitching smile, Garrus behind her.

"Hey, Joker, we're back," she said, "and look! Garrus is coming with us again!"

"Hello, Joker," the turian said cautiously.

"Oh, hey," said the pilot with a slight tilt of his head. "How's it going?"

"Ah, you know, just helping rebuild the entire turian species. No big deal."

"Heh," the pilot spit out a light chuckle, little more than a cough, "that's funny... hey, Autopilot, we ready to go here?"

Garrus ducked his head further in, bending over slightly over the second seat in the cockpit. In it, he found a familiar creature; a human woman-shaped being, of sleek silver and bluish tints. A blue visor hung over her vacant eyes. "All systems are green," it stated plainly.

"All right, you heard it. We're headed for Rannoch."

"Right... sure... see you, then, Joker," the turian backed out of the cockpit and walked along the bridge with Ashley and James. "He's not doing much better."

"He's just not the same guy anymore," said James.

"Remember he didn't just lose EDI," sighed Ashley, "his whole family, too. It's nothing short of a miracle how many of us managed to survive the war, but civilian casualties, especially among humans are... astronomical. We still haven't accounted for all of them yet."

"Sometimes I see him off duty and he's half normal. I think being in the Normandy..." the soldier looked back to the cockpit, knowing there was no humming, no fidgeting, no laughs or sarcastic remarks conspiring, and shrugged. "It just messes him up. Like he's just reminded of everything he lost, and he can't enjoy his work anymore. It sucks."

"Makes me wonder," said Garrus, "if Shepard should have ever told us what happened up there, on the Citadel. We could have gone the rest of our lives just thinking it was some freak accident, or that he didn't know destroying the Catalyst meant destroying all advanced synthetic life."

"Bastian is private, but he doesn't keep secrets," said Ashley, "and he always owns up for the things he does. He knows Joker deserved the truth."

"But was it really a kindness to Joker, or did Shepard just not want to live with the guilt?"

"Garrus, you know damn well Bas did what he had to. You think he's happy living with the ramifications of destroying the Catalyst? You think he feels better knowing Joker still doesn't want to see him? You should know what it means to do what needs to be done. The Reapers needed to be destroyed, and this was the only way."

"I know, Ash," the turian sighed, "I know..."

"Don't think I could've lived with it either, keeping it to myself," said James, taking another look across the bridge, "still... he just ain't the same."


	9. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Shepard peered out the shuttle's dashboard as it zipped along the surface of Tuchunka. Towers of rock and hills of sand appeared to chase the shuttle, reaching for it with tan and grainy hands. Weathered stones and jagged cliffs jutted from the dry earth and framed the surrounding canyons like fangs around a gaping maw.

He then heard the subtle hum of displeasure from the pilot. "Spectre Shepard, Sir," said Nachthex, masking her annoyance with formal politeness, "this is technically a hazardous area. We'll be at the drop point shortly. Until then, please remain seated."

"All right, Caelus, have it your way," Shepard chuckled as he plopped back onto his seat, alongside Zaeed.

"I can't say I'm in much of a rush to get there like you," said Liara, back straight, hands clutched on her knees. "Unruly husks, ravenous cannibals, two-headed banshees... who knows what we'll find here?"

"Nothing we can't handle, Liara,"

"Hmph," she pouted, "you're awfully calm about this. Is that why you convinced Samara to be with her daughter, instead of coming to help us?"

"We've got this under control. Samara's spent hundreds of years righting wrongs, neglecting and losing family in the process. Family... it's important."

Zaeed's throaty chuckle interrupted the Spectre. "Or maybe you didn't want to risk her remembering she was going to kill you to fulfill that Code of hers."

The asari's eyes widened. "I'm sorry?"

"Long story," said Shepard, "point is, we'll be fine."

"I believe you, although I still think we could have benefitted from some extra help, considering your... condition."

"Little lady's right, Shepard," said Zaeed, "you've been fucking up, not in much position to be cocky."

Shepard face soured, his arrogant smirk melted into a scowl and his thick brow lowered. "You two seem to forget that I'm the guy who spearheaded the destruction of the Reapers. This horde is pale. Just a spot on my legacy I intend to wipe clean."

"All it takes is one fucking up, Shepard. Legacy or no."

With a scoff, Shepard looked down and watched himself clench his right hand; armored fingers curling inward, then extending outward. "I'm not pretending those incidents on Thessia didn't happen, you know. And I'm glad you two were there to watch my back, it's why I sought out your help. Almost all the Spectres I've known that went solo... have met a bad end."

"Well, we wouldn't want that," said Liara, "you still need to grow out that ugly beard, and... what is that game old humans play? Golf? Or was it shuffling board?"

Zaeed laughed. "Shuffleboard, sweetheart."

"Right, right, of course. But before that, you've got other plans, don't you?" the asari giggled, her plain expression faltering. "You want to... pass down your genetic legacy?"

Shepard groaned, "How did I ever find company in such nosy people... should've kept Javik along with me, at least he doesn't care."

"Shepard, please... don't be like that. We all care."

"Spectre Shepard, Sir!" Nachthex cried, her voice jittering with the vibration of the ship, "No cause for alarm, but we're experiencing some turbulence. I assume everyone is buckled in!"

"Turbulence...?" said Shepard as he stepped to the cockpit again.

"Shepard," said the pilot, "please stay. In. Your seat."

The Spectre and the pilot watched with wide eyes and opened jaws as the planet shook around them, the air whipping against the shuttle. As the vibrations became more intense, the earth began to split apart, rocks and pillars of sand swirling downward into a black abyss. A tube-shaped mass of lobe-covered scales, framed with toothy legs like a giant centipede, merged from the gaping hole.

Shepard clung to the rail as the sudden acceleration knocked him from his stance. The muscles in his arm stretched and strained as he pulled himself off the floor.

"Shepard," grunted Zaeed, "please don't tell me there's a fucking thresher maw out there."

"Okay, I won't," he replied, "...but there is."

"Everyone just stay in your seats and hang on!" said Nachthex, "I'll get us out of its reach!"

Shepard and his teammates grabbed onto the metal bars beside them as the ship made a sharp u-turn, away from the thresher maw's opened, dripping tooth-racked mouth. The creature slammed into the earth as the shuttle dodged its lunge, but resurfaced with a gorging throat, neon tongue wagging, shooting oozing green torpedoes.

"Lieutenant Caelus," growled Shepard as his body bobbed about, "is everything under control?"

"Standard procedure involving thresher maws and other categorically hazardous life forms is avoid and evade. Avoiding not going so well, but I can evade it!"

"Caelus, it's shooting acid at us!"

"I'm working on it! I'm a professional!" The ship rattled at the creature's hungry bellowing and the shifting of rock and sand as it coursed through the earth. With a twist of her wrist and a flicking of the dashboard, the turian pilot dipped the shuttle downward, avoiding the oncoming rush of razor limbs. A powerful thud resounded from behind as the shuttle retained its steady flight. "See? What did I tell you? Professional."

"Well, you're still one of two more bearable pilots I've worked with," said Shepard as he reworked his footing on the shuttle floor.

"And how many pilots have you worked with?"

"Including you, three." Shepard kept his body tense, fingers tight on the handle, as the violent torrent of earth became a soft rumbling. But there remained a faint humming below them, a buzzing in Shepard's ear. He looked over at the pilot again and saw glowing blips on her dashboard. He sighed, "Something you want to tell me, Caelus?"

"Nothing you won't figure out by yourself in a few seconds, Spectre Shepard," answered Nachthex, her motions on the controls becoming more rapid while the radar blips moved closer to the center of the screen.

Shepard peered out the window and found two large spots on the horizon. His eyes widened as they moved in closer. In seconds, they revealed themselves as Brutes-the unholy hybrids of krogan and turian-stampeding across the desert. Shepard was knocked from his feet as the vessel veered far to the side, out of the rushing monster's path, tossed to the other side of the ship, body bashed against the wall, cushioned only by his two companions.

"Damn it, Caelus!" he growled.

"I told you to get back in your seat!"

"Obviously I can't do that now, with Brutes on the loose!"

"Fine! Then I'll maintain a safe distance, you do what you can with the turrets."

"Wait, this shuttle has turrets built in?"

"What, yours don't?"

A small door unhinged from the ship's floor. With the grinding gears and clicking metal, a small canon emerged.

The Brutes rushed through the desert wasteland, storms of sand swirling at their feet as their claws slapped against the earth. Gripping the turret handles and adjusting the scope, Shepard watched them run into the cracked patch of land, where the thresher maw had claimed. Angry at the sensed intrusion, the giant worm creature launched itself into the surface, pincers flailing. It flung its wriggly body towards them, smashing one deep into the earth. The pinned Brute writhed about, bashing the side of the thresher with its fist. The second one pounced on it, as if to mount, and tore off one of its pincers with a gushing snap.

The shuttle drew closer, and Shepard pelted balls of fire and metal at the Reaper hybrids. The mounting Brute shuddered at the firing, its shoulder plating unhinged from its flesh as it fell off the thresher. Yet it and the second Brute remained vigilant in their thrashing attempt to pluck the thresher maw from its earthen nest, climbing it and clawing at it as blood and acid spewed all around the, staining the ground.

"Shepard!" The Spectre's communicator buzzed, and he recognized the deep grumble of the voice. "Looks like you're a little preoccupied."

"Who wants to bet the big one will die first? Anybody?" came in another voice, equal to the other in grumbling tone, but with a more youthful pitch.

Shepard kept firing, eyes still on the two Brutes and thresher, but couldn't help cock his head. "Wrex? Grunt? You're here?"

"Shepard!" cried Grunt, "I can see you from here! Can you see me?"

"You're on my rock, remember?" said Wrex. "We've got a situation here, not too far from you."

"I don't suppose you can handle it, and I can go home?" Shepard said slyly, hearing Grunt's laughter in the background.

"You'll want to see this for yourself, Shepard. And if I can't relax, neither can you. Now finish those three off and get over here."

"Ah... I think that problem's taking care of itself," said Shepard, easing himself away from the cannon the two Brutes, their plates falling off, stopped moving. The thresher maw scooped one up into its unhinged mouth, but blood popped from its lobes. With the Brute's legs sticking out of its mouth, the thresher began to gag, its insides gushing out, chunks of leaky green and blue spattering over the trench it emerged from. Its massive body slammed back into the ground, sinking into the earth, taking the two Reaper hybrids with it.

"What the ever-loving fuck was that?" said Zaeed as he stood up watched the sight of the beast battle drift further away.

"I'd like to know that as well!" said Liara. "I've never seen a Reaper soldier go after anything except people."

"I have... no idea," said Shepard. "They just ran up to the thing and fought it. It's like they were just fighting for the sake of fighting."

The shuttle flew away from the carnage and towards a tower. It stood off balance like a tilted needle of stone jutting from out of the wasteland. As the little ship landed on a wide pedestal of stone, gunshots and roars resounded.

"Guess we're a little late to the party," said Shepard as he leapt out of the shuttle. "You okay, Caelus? That was rough."

The turian pilot was still in her seat, but the Spectre could hear her jolted gasps. "That... was... strangely exciting! It was horrible, but... I haven't done anything like that since the war. If only we could've done that on a gunship, I would've...!"

"Well... I'm glad you got your adrenaline fix. Just be ready to pick us up when we're done here."

Shepard and his two teammates marched through a platform of stone. Pointed spires framed the area all around them, tearing through the dusty clouds that hung above. Vines and weeds attempted to spread in the cracks and crevices, but withered and turned to sickly grey rope sprawled among the tiles. The beastly cries and blasts of slugs grew louder, and as the group approached the top, they saw Marauders whip through the air, dead before their bodies flopped against the floor. When they reached cover, on the safe side of a fallen krogan statue, Wrex was waiting for them.

"Glad you could make it," he said with a hearty chuckle. Shepard had to smirk; he knew his old krogan teammate, now leader of all his kind, was enjoying this. "Not that we need the help, but there's plenty to go around. And I'm a giver."

"Aren't you just," said Shepard. Peering out of cover, he spotted two other krogan ahead. One was Grunt, ducking beside knocked over pillars, laughing to himself as he reloaded his rifle. The other one was farther ahead, keeping an arc of space around him clear with blasts from his shotgun. Shepard didn't recognize him, but he was a massive thing, even bigger than Wrex, the lights of biotics and tech surging around his body. Beyond them, Reaper troops were firing and fighting, mostly at each other, as if the tower's top were a ritualistic altar to spill their own blood upon. Two more Brutes stood among a mass of Husks, batting hordes of them off the tower with a single swipe of the arm. Marauders were scattered about, whipping the human-shaped creatures with lashes of red energy, forcing them to climb atop the Brutes like a plague of locusts. "I was right. They're... fighting each other."

"That's not true," said Wrex, "well, they ARE fighting each other, but they're also fighting us."

As if the krogan's words were heard, the Marauders combined their ribbons of red energy and whipped at the backs of a single Brute. Its hulking body thrashing in pain, it let out a thunderous roar and charged ahead, stomping Husks in its way. The unfamiliar mountain of a krogan blasted slugs onto its body, supported by Grunt's rapid rifle firing. The Brute shuddered at their fire, but continued. When one shot blasted a stray mandible clean off, the Brute grabbed the giant krogan.

"What's the matter?" he belted out, not a sliver of fear in his jovial voice. "Upset I banged up your face? Don't worry, you're still pretty!"

The krogan-turian hybrid snarled as it chucked him. The elder krogan shouted as he flew through the air, and groaned as he slammed against stone. His body tumbled to the edge of the tower.

"Damn it, old man!" grumbled Grunt. With the Brute occupied, trapped in the fires of warp fields, the tank-born krogan sprinted out of his cover. He knocked down incoming Husks with the butt of his gun, extended his arm, and hoisted the old krogan from off the edge.

"Thanks, youngin'," said the old krogan.

"Yeah, yeah, just make yourself useful."

"I can manage that," the elder laughed as he grabbed the hammer at his side. With a squeeze of the handle, his biotic power flowed from his hand to the bludgeoner. He swung in an arc, the colossal block-shaped end swimming through the bodies of Husks as though they were made only of grey mush. Grunt cleared a path as he marched, knocking away the human-shaped troops with concussive shots. When they had claimed a wide section of the platform, an angry Marauder met them at the edge. The two krogan approached, both laughing as rifle shots bounced off the young one's fortified armor and the elder's sheer mass. The Marauder tried to swing its rifle in defiance, but the elder krogan slapped it across the face with his surging hammer. He smashed its wiry body into grey mush while Grunt threw himself into another group of Husks.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the tower peak, Wrex and Shepard maneuvered around the fallen Brute, Liara and Zaeed close behind.

"Not much cover past this point," laughed Wrex, "that's not gonna be a problem for you, is it, Shepard?"

"Funny," said Shepard, his voice dry, "I was just about to ask you the same thing."

Human-shaped creatures came in from every direction, their mutated bodies, missing limbs, and sewn shut mouths doing little to deter them. Against the fizzling cracks of the Marauder's neon whips, the Husks charged at the new intruders. The Spectre and his old krogan companion tossed waves of energy, knocking down lines of Husks like bowling pins. Exposed Marauders, like ringleaders with no beasts to tame, snarled in anger, rifles out. A few shells chinked against Shepard's tech armor before Wrex enveloped the two of them in a half sphere of biotic power. With a slight shake in movement and a few grunts, the krogan fired a single blast from his shotgun, tearing through the turian-shaped trooper's chest. Shepard's automatic rifle rained slugs upon yet another group of Husks. As soon as he spotted the Marauder controlling them, he raised a hand, signaling Zaeed to send a single slug zipping through the air, from the end of his sniper rifle to inside the turian creature's head.

From a distance behind Shepard and Wrex, Liara lifted another string of Reaper troops in a swirling torrent of dark energy. They were all knocked out of the sky by swerving warp fields and sniper shots, but another Brute stamped through the biotic field like it was a puddle. She flung a warp field at it, pushing the creature back, joined with suppressing fire from the teammates in front of her. The Brute stumbled against the slugs nicking at its armor, but never stopped moving. As it drew closer, the three saw a ring of glowing red around its neck. It extended along its back, to the clutches of one last Marauder. Like a feral dog ready to break from its leash, the Brute thrashed about as it ran, oil and blood gushing from its jaw.

The elder and tank-born krogan were stomping towards them while Shepard, Liara, and Zaeed fired at the creature. The turian-krogan hybrid stampeded, his biotics thumping. With another thud against stone, Wrex threw both hands up, releasing his hold on his own powers, detonating the barrier. The half-sphere of light popped into shards of blue and white energy. The barrier burst with a boom, the wave of released energy smacking the Brute back. As the creature rocked about, the two other krogan were on it. Grunt lunged in, his rifle spewing enflamed ammunition. The elder krogan thwacked against its bulking arm, biotics from him and the remnants of the barrier adding a glowing push to his hammer. The Brute toppled over, with the Marauder behind it and unable to outrun the growing casted shadow. The krogan creature landed with a booming thud and a gushing squish.

"Are we done already?" asked Grunt, disappointed.

"Looks that way," said Wrex, giving Shepard a hearty pat on the shoulder. "Good thing, too. I think Shepard's already getting winded."

"Come on, you two," said the elder krogan, a throaty chuckle rumbling beneath his words. "This is Commander Shepard we're talking about here. He put up a good fight... for a human."

Shepard rolled his eyes as the three krogan laughed together, but his focus drifted to the elder one. His skin was tinted blue, with a massive hump, crags and cracks all over his face. There was a hard clanging in his step.

"Hmm," the elder krogan caught Shepard's stare, and stared right back. "I see war has taken from you too, Shepard."

"You mean this?" he said as he raised his prosthetic hand. "Most people can't tell."

"I can always tell. You don't just lose a part of your body and go on just as you were. It hangs on you. But considering what you've accomplished, I'd say you made it out fine. I hope life has been treating you well, Shepard. Human lives are short, after all, got to make the most of it."

"It has, yeah, at least up until now. I know you, don't I?"

"Not like you know these pups. We only met once, you helped me keep some refugee kids safe. Olyndik Crux, at your service."

"I don't suppose any of you three know what happened here?" asked Liara. "We've been finding these things where Reapers hit especially hard."

"Sounds about right," said Wrex, "we've been rebuilding the old territory when Husks starting crawling out. Followed them here, and here we are."

"They had taken the whole tower," said Grunt, "we really softened them up for you, Shepard."

"I can always count on you to pick up the slack, Grunt," said Shepard with an approving nod. "These things have been coming from what appear to be escape pods. Have you seen any?"

"Follow me," said Crux, as he stomped to the end of the tower platform, the others tailing him. They all went down a stony staircase that spiraled around the building, along rows of doors and through archways.

Shepard's eyes widened at the scope of the tower; with fight done, the view settled in. As they all walked down the stairs, remnants of other buildings and statues floated in the sand down below like bits of foam in the sea. "What is this place?"

"Long before the genophage," began Crux, a swell of pride in his booming voice, "krogan would build their homes as high as they could, to assert their dominance over the land. Many clans worked together to create this tower, knowing thresher maws dwelled beneath. They built it higher and higher, as to show the beasts that however far they reached, the krogan could reach higher. Until Kalros rose up and destroyed most of the city, ate most of the clan members, knocked off most of the tower, made this place a lost cause. Sort of a Tower of Babel for krogan."

"Huh," said Zaeed with a shrug, "a well read krogan. Who knew."

"Hey, krogan and humans have a lot of similarities, I've come to see. We both appreciate the finer things: a good fight, a good meal, and a good story."

"I should think both humans and krogan both like a good repopulating," said Wrex, "Reapers took a lot of human lives over the years, and you don't reproduce like we do."

"I'm not going to pretend humans went through what your people did, Wrex," said Shepard.

"Ah, past is past. The genophage is gone, war's over, and now we can get to what's really important."

Liara gave a fluttering laugh. "Something tells me he's not talking about building homes and reviving his culture."

"You already started a family before the war was even over," said Shepard, "I can only imagine how many little Wrexes are scattered about now."

"A lot," said the krogan, in a groan that showed the very thought of it exhausted him, "don't worry, Shepard. We're being responsible with the baby-making. They're all taken care of. And they'll all know about you before their quads grow in."

"Ah, that's... what I like to hear."

"What about you, then?"

"You have females lining up, don't you, Shepard?" said Grunt.

"Of course he does! Who could be more viable than Shepard?"

"How many mating requests do you get every day, Shepard? Is it a lot? I bet it's a lot. It's a lot, right?"

"I..." Shepard ran his hand across his brow and through his hair, the words yanked out from him. The laughter, from the krogan and the asari, were pressed against him. "Yeah, I am not even going there."

"Now, now, boys," said Liara, "humans tend to be more... _selective_ in their mates. It's not just about breeding, it's about having a partner whom you can share your whole life with."

"Sounds boring," said Grunt.

"I'm sure whoever the great Shepard chooses as his single, lifelong mate will be more than worthy," added Crux, "it'll at least be another warrior, right? Your children will strengthen the human race that way."

"That sounds about right," the asari giggled.

"Okay, that's really enough," said Shepard, "let's get back to the horrible mutant Reaper troops, shall we?"

"Have it your way, Shepard," said Wrex as the krogan led the Spectre and his team through an arch, where pods, just as they had seen in London, were sprawled about along the walls, strung together by oozing veins. A few Husks still crawled about like forgotten parasites. Wrex shot one moving upper torso, a pair of arms dragging a stomach along the floor, towards the shards of black stone in the middle of the tower, and reduced it to a splatter of grey and blood. "This is it. We haven't had any of them in other parts of krogan space."

"Looks like they've been here a while, just waiting," said Crux, "the Husks seem to be attracted to broken Reaper parts, they try to get at 'em like hungry pyjack. Then the turian things round them up when they get disoriented."

"There are bigger pods over there, where Brutes come from," said Grunt, "all they wanna do is fight."

Shepard kept walking, eyes tracing every vein in each pod. They were emptied and crack, like a nest of hatched eggs. "Damn it. We keep finding more of these things, but we're not any closer. They're trying to get Reaper parts, but they're not functional anymore. Doesn't make any sense."

"Not to mention we've got no idea where they're coming from," said Zaeed, "they can't just be falling out of the goddamned sky."

"A damn good point. Who or what is sending these things..."


	10. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Garrus walked up to Ashley and Tali as they watched the dim orange sun drift over the sky. Beneath its glare, networks of buildings filled the ridges along the golden cliffs, as if unearthed from the rock. The turian could already hear busying shifts of gears and wheels as he walked, and as he stood at Ashley's side, he noticed a small army of man-shaped beings of metal and wire. With blinking lights for heads, they carried crates and plastered panels.

"I know it's odd," said Tali, as if she knew what her two friends were about to say. "It takes some getting used to."

Ashley shuddered, her dark eyes following an assembly line of geth-like machines as they marched through a row of near-completed buildings. "Sure," she said, "it's just... when we all met, going after Saren, I had always pictured them as mindless robots. Whether it was true or not, didn't really matter, we had to take them down, and it was just easier to see them that way."

Garrus nodded. "Those that followed Saren turned out to be heretics, but there were others, then things got a lot more complicated."

"But not anymore. Now it really is all they are. Just labor and maintenance drones. Walking machines."

"It's easy to forget the geth are... were software, not hardware."

"And now," Tali sighed, "after everything that's happened, hardware is all that's left of them. Simple artificial intelligence, if you can even call it that. These things are probably all that my ancestors wanted. What they originally intended the geth to be."

"Is there really no way to undo this? Or fix it? Most of the mass relays are back online."

"That's just it, though. There's really nothing _to_ fix. Every machine that performs a basic function was just damaged, and that can always be repaired. But the geth had such a sophisticated and complex coding, a culmination of their own improvements and Reaper influence. It was completely wiped clean when Shepard destroyed the Reapers. Our people do have theories, and they are trying to get them as they once were, but it can't just be replicated."

"Almost like there's no heart anymore," said Ashley.

"And no soul..."

Ashley winced, watching her quarian friend slump and sigh. She put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay, Tali?"

"I'm fine. I don't blame Shepard or anything for what happened."

"Nor should you," inserted Javik, "the Commander made the wise decision. The machines, the geth, the one you called 'EDI', they all would have turned on you eventually."

Ashley shot the prothean a dirty glare and shook her head. "Okay, well, aside from that... we're nearly there, right?"

"That's correct, Miss Ashley," said a quarian man, decked in red armor, as he approached them from the front, a gaping mouth of stone behind him. "We've had some geth missing in these parts. Found a few down there, but it's a mess."

Ashley squinted as she tried to place the quarian's features. His hood down, she saw a face, somewhat like a human's, but as though it were carved from copper. There was a more slender frame and longer neck, to match Tali's. Ridges crowned his brow and sharp white eyes looked back at her. "Well, well," she said with a smirk once her memory cleared, "if it isn't my second favorite marine to come back from the dead."

The quarian man chuckled. "Ah, I'm only second because you're not dating me."

"Oho, is that a challenge? Careful now, Reegar, I'm pretty sure your girlfriend is the jealous type."

"I'm still here, you know," huffed Tali as she sprinted to Reegar's side, clasping her arms around his chest.

"Aww, we're just teasing, Tali," said Kal'Reegar as he tenderly stroked the black, tendril-like hairs on the back of her head. "You sure you want to come?"

"Bosh'tet! I get a little headache and everyone wants to coddle me. I'm completely, totally fine."

"Then who am I to argue?" he said as he shifted his hands to her pale cheeks and brought his head down to kiss the ridged that made her nose, making her stubby nostrils flare.

"Reegar, you've met Garrus," said Ashley, "and Vega."

"Good to see you guys again," said Garrus.

"Hey, Red," said James, "you treating Sparks good?"

"I am," said the quarian marine matter-of-factly, "and I still don't like that nickname. Not like I always wear red. Just most of the time."

"Yeah," laughed Ashley, "he's not very good at nicknames, but his heart's in the right place."

"Dios mio," groaned James, "everyone's a critic."

"And over there's..." Ashley gestured a hand to Javik, only to see him scowl. "Yeah, this is Javik, that prothean we revived. Ball of sunshine. And there's... where's Neekos? I thought for sure he wanted to meet Reegar."

Garrus looked to his side and noticed a fleeting flicker, a transparent glimpse of the quarian boy's skinny frame. He gave it a smack on the back, knocking him back into visibility. "Be respectful, Parha."

"Oh, no, that's not. what I meant to do," Neekos squeaked, "I was just, um, testing the... the thing for... stuff."

"Hey," said Reegar, eyes wide as he spotted Neekos, "that's the Carbine you've got there, isn't it? The shotgun that was manufactured with my family's name? I didn't realize they still made them."

"They... they don't. Head Advisor Vakarian and I were getting rid of some mercs on Palaven and one of them was using it but he was really sloppy and I don't think he knew it's potential he wasn't respecting the weapon so I..."

"Parha," Garrus barked, "you're rambling. We talked about the rambling."

"I'm glad you liberated it from him, then," Reegar said with a hearty pat on the shoulder. "You use it well and respect it, okay?"

"I, I will! I promise!" the boy squealed, shuddering as he tried to hold in the internal screams.

"That's good. Now, since you haven't been living on Rannoch, and where we're going hasn't been cleaned, you're going to have to keep your helmet on."

"Everyone should keep their helmets and breathers on," added Tali, "it's... ugh, _dusty _down there."

The group reequipped their protective headgear as an elevator carried them through a tube of chipped stone. When they reached the bottom, a single hall branched into tunnels and stemmed into more tunnels. An intricate web of rooms spread before them, under rounded archways and along embellished walls. Carvings popped from the stone, as if trying to escape its clutches, and words of an alien tongue were composed throughout, marking every new corridor with its own intricate symbol.

Ashley heard the scuffing of boots and patting of hands as her and the group marched along the catacombs. "So what's the situation? You sent some of your... 'geth' down here and they never came back?"

"That's right," said Tali, "we were rebuilding and the crew overseeing the construction saw those batarian things wandering in here. They sent geth down here to check it out, but no sign of them."

"Reports of strange noises too," said Reegar, "some... humming sounds coming from here. People who work in this area start to feel uneasy. There's not supposed to be anything down here but the dead."

"I've been exchanging information with Shepard," said Ashley as her eyes trailed through all the detail in the walls, "we've both been finding clusters of Reaper soldiers in areas heavily damaged by the war, where broken Reaper parts have been found. They seem to be dropped off in pods, but we don't have any idea where they coming from, or why they're so disoriented."

"Disoriented, Miss Ashley?"

"They're not... normal. Husks wander aimlessly, Marauders try to control them, we found one that talked, even. In his last message to me, Bas said he's found Cannibals eating whatever they can find, and... two headed Banshees."

"There's only been sightings of Cannibals, and I hope that's the worst of it. Bad enough their disturbing this place, but it's not all that stable."

"You know, you say things like that," said Garrus, "and that guarantees things are going to get worse."

James chuckled. "Yeah, you might as well say, 'I've got a bad feeling about this,'."

"Or maybe, 'What could possibly go wrong?'."

The quarian marine just laughed. "Tali did tell me she worked with some... interesting folks."

"And by 'interesting', you mean, intelligent, cunning, a fantastic shot?"

"Hmm... I recall her saying something like that about Spectre Williams here, but for you two I think the word was... 'pigheaded', that there was no word in our own language that fit as well."

"Why, Tali, that hurts my feelings!"

Tali only murmured, "Bosh'tet," as the group continued. They reached a wide opening-a circular room with symbols marking each new hall and streams of surface light cracking through-when Ashley caught Neekos hopping.

"What wrong, kid?" she said.

"I heard something," he responded while pointing to one of the corridors, "over there."

"Wait," said Javik, his fingers traversing the walls. "There are more elsewhere. Festering."

Ashley could barely spit out, "Where?" as the ground beneath her trembled. The group dispersed, stepping backwards as the chamber shook. A shrill and violent shriek cut through the sound of crumbling stone. "Aww crap... be careful with your shots, people!"

A Banshee came drifting through one of the halls like a lost widow, back hunched, neck sewn to one shoulder, long claws scratching against the coffins as it came closer.

"Don't touch those!" snapped Tali, shotgun out, blasting a slug to its misaligned head. It recoiled in pain, and with a flick of its arm, sent a blurry wave of biotic energy through the air and towards the quarian machinist. Reegar tugged her out of the way, but the warp field hit a pillar and it began to crumble.

"Damn it," grunted Ashley, squeezing her rifle trigger as a flurry of slugs flew from her barrel to the asari shaped creature's sunken ribcage. The Banshee wailed, its body flaring with blue lights. It threw out fields of biotics like glowing spitballs, smacking against the walls and casings of coffins.

Ashley found herself pedaling backwards with the quarians, back through the corridor they came from, the floor cracking underneath their feet. They saw Cannibals and Husks pour from out of the halls, lunging at the backs of their teammates. Garrus squirmed as a Husk crawled on the curve of his back, where he could not reach, so he slammed himself into the wall until its head turned to mush, rattling the foundation in the process.

James had Cannibals crawling at his feet, gnawing on his armor. "Hey, hey!" he shouted as he kicked them away, "I am NOT on the menu!" He cocked his shotgun and hurled incendiary blasts, knocking them to the walls as pounds of enflamed meat.

"Wait, wait!" cried Tali as she tried to wriggle out of the oncoming horde's way, knocking a few Husks down with careful pistol shots. "This place is unstable! We need to be more careful!" The floor beneath her was already in pieces as she spoke. Javik slammed the twisted Banshee to the ground, and the force of its carcass against the brittle floor sent cracks all around. He, Garrus, and James backed away into separate corridors, outrunning the spreading cracks, but the gaping hole swallowed Ashley and the quarians.

"Ash, Tali!" Garrus's shout was muffled by growing distance, covered by the sound of their own cries as they fell. Their bodies quickly met a hard, unforgiving surface, a violent thud as it slammed against their armor.

"Ugh, damn it," groaned Ashley as she lay on her back. Her body gripped with pain, she bit her teeth and arced her back, but something was obstructing her chest. "What the…?" When the fuzz in her eyes cleared, she found Neekos sprawled against hert. "Kid, are you okay?"

"Nngh…" was all that the quarian boy said in response, his visor rubbing against her chest plate.

"Come on, kid, we have to get up. It wasn't that long a fall."

"Just need… a moment to… rest my head."

"I'm serious, get off," she said, the gentleness in her voice gone as she flung herself upward, knocking Neekos away. "Jeez, kid, you are _not_ subtle."

"Tali, Tali!" said Reegar as he scrambled to his feet and sprinted to Tali's side. "Are you okay?" as he lifted her upwards and cradled her in his arms.

"I'm… I'm fine, Kal," she said, her head knocking about as she groaned, "but I've been better."

"Spectre Williams?"

"I'm okay," said Ashley as she stood up and dusted off her armor. "Nothing's broken, anyway."

"And the kid...?"

"He should be fine, too," she said as she watched Neekos lie still on the floor and kicked him on his side until he got up.

"Ash? Ashley!" Garrus's voice echoed. The Spectre cranked her head and found the turian's head poking out from the other side of the hole.

"We're fine," she answered with a wave.

"You're not that far down. Maybe Javik can lift you back up with his biotics."

"Wait!" cried Neekos, his voice cracked. With a few taps on his omni-tool, transparent little figures, in the shapes of Husks and Cannibals, flickered from his bright orange wrist. "I knew I heard them. See? There's more of them down here."

"If there's two levels, we'd need to check both anyway," said Ashley.

"And both floors meet at one exit," said Tali as she was hoisted up by Reegar.

"That settles it, then. Think you boys can handle things by yourselves up there?"

"Oh, we'll be at a _terrible _disadvantage, to be sure," sneered Garrus, "but we'll manage. Best case scenario, two of us make it out alive."

"Best case scenario," growled Javik, "is me dragging your lifeless bodies out of here instead of leaving you to be digested!"

"All right, try not to have too much fun," said Ashley as she began walking away from the crash site and into the bottom level. "Let's move out. Kid, are they close by?"

"Yes," Neekos answered, "and there's a lot of them."

"Just mind your shots, would you?" said Tali. "We've already done irreparable damage to this place..."

Ashley looked around as they walked. Their steps resounded and faded against the stone, their echoes lost in the wide and webbing halls. She watched Tali's drone, Chatika, as it bounced down staircases and along the walls, shining light upon on the details in the walls. Indentations were pressed amidst the embellishment, with coffins placed inside. The drone shed light on the rows of cases, all carefully stacked and spread throughout the walls. A vast library of encased corpses, with symbols marking each new wing. "So this is... a tomb for your people, right?"

"Yes," said Tali, "this is what we did with our dead before we were exiled. It's the resting place of our ancestors."

"We didn't have the resources or the space to reserve our dead in the flotilla," added Reegar, "but we didn't want to send their bodies into space, either. So we cremated them."

"Some humans do that," said Ashley, "but my dad is buried in the colony I was born in. Even though he's not there, I still like to visit him. Like there's some... piece of him there."

"That sounds nice," said Tali, "I like that."

"Head's up," said Neekos, his scanner blinking, little figures of light popping from his omni-tool. He pointed to one of the wings, marked with fat, rounded pillars."They're on the other side."

"Reegar, take point with me," Ashley said in a low voice. The quarian marine nodded, and the two of them went to each side of the entrance, rifles in hand. They stood in wait, only the rolling of dust and dripping of water off stalagmites resounding in the distance. Ashley reared her head, only the outermost corner of her eyes peeking through the hallway, as a faint crunching sound reached them. Seeing nothing but more shelves of coffins, she stepped into the hall, the quarian man beside her, the other two quarians behind. The sound persisted as they walked; a dry clenching of teeth against some unknown surface, a crumbling between fits of drooling and groaning.

They approached the inner sanctum and the tiles broke apart under their feet, water seeping through the cracks. The walls were fashioned with coffins and carvings, but the cases at the bottom were disheveled and broken apart. Tali peered her head out from behind Reegar, and her eyes popped at the sight of a group of Cannibals munching on dried corpses.

"Ahh!" she cried, indignation flaring her shout as she raised her pistol. "Get away from those!" With a wave of her omni-tool, her drone hovered over the Reaper troops, sending streaks of lightning that shook them in a grasp of flashing white pain, bursting the sacs of rotted pustules that hung from their flesh. She shot their howling heads and they flopped to the floor, as dead as the bodies they had been chewing on.

"Damn," said Reegar, "you're as effective as you are cute when you're mad."

"I manage," said Tali, proud of herself.

"That's great, Tali," said Ashley half-heartedly as the drone shone light on an oncoming pack of geth. They dropped scraps of metal and rock from their clutches to wield their rifles. "But I think it cost us the element of surprise."

"Wait, no one said they were hostile, maybe I can..." the quarian machinist's fingers danced on her omni-tool, but the geth continued to march towards them, weapons up. "No, their programming has been completely overridden! How could..."

As the vanguard of machines approached, their bodies fizzling with red lightning, a Marauder emerged, the streams of red dangling in its clutches. Ashley and the three quarians rolled and tumbled beside formations of rock as illuminated slugs flooded towards them.

"We have to take 'em out quick," said Reegar, "or else this place might fall on top of us!"

"Not to mention all the damage they're doing to our honored dead!" cried Tali with indignation.

"...Also that."

"How is a Marauder even doing this?" she said as she popped from out of her cover, her pistol ammunition pinging against the turian creature's plating. "How is this even possi... ugh..."

"Tali!" the quarian marine jerked in his stance, seeing Tali falter, her back sliding against the wall. "Damn it, you're not well," he said as he wrung one arm around hers and hoisted her back onto her feet. "You've been pushing yourself too hard."

"I'll be fine, Kal," she replied with a quick brush of her hand against his shoulder. "I've done too much to let a little aching stop me now."

"We got this, no problem," said Ashley, turning to Neekos, "you've got electric grenades, right?"

"Yes, ma'am," he chirped.

"And Garrus taught you about flanking, I trust?"

"Well, Head Advisor Vakarian likes to emphasize the importance of headshots, but yes, I can do that."

"Good. I want you to stun them, then use your cloak to work around them, take out a few from the side. We'll cover you, okay?"

"Okay... I can do this. No problem. Here we go."

"Kid. Just do it."

"Doing it!" The young quarian fidgeted a bit, straightened his shoulders and hopped in his stance, before his fingers found a grenade on his belt. Popping out of cover, he chucked the little shell at the horde of repurposed geth, and bolted from cover. Invisibility covered him as he zipped around the tomb. Tali waved her omni-tool as the machines staggered, and streaks of lightning from the bursting grenade became white hot sparks that broke apart the vanguard. Wires fizzled and popped, the smaller geth turned to scrap metal.

The Marauder howled in anguish, careening about against strings of heated pain worming into its body. It tightened a fist, streams of red energy still falling from its fingers, and reeled more geth from behind to march onward. Tali's drone spat out little bolts of electricity while Ashley and Reegar blasted slugs from their assault rifles, their fire storming against metal, ripping through their bodies like they were made of paper.

A hulking machine of faded red, what used to be a Prime unit, marched forward, clonking and clanking, the machine gun strapped to its arm sputtering. The three ducked back down as slugs flew towards them. Tali and Reegar had their omni-tools flashing, in an attempt to sabotage, but the huge geth only slowed its step, and only for a moment. The Marauder whipped the ribbons of red at the geth's back, and it made a gargling, winding shout, like gears twisting against oil and phlegm.

Ashley seized the pause in fire to rear out of cover and shoot again. She pushed back the Marauder and the giant geth back with a heavy rain of slugs. She spotted a flash of light, a ripple in transparency, from behind the geth Prime's leg. Smiling, she halted fire while white luminous sparks flooded into the mechanical body. The geth stammered into a spasm of snapping circuits. Neekos veered back into visibility as the machine crashed to its knees and toppled downward. Snarling at the sight of him, the Marauder raised his rifle at the young quarian, but a single slug flew through the back of its skull, and it fell with emptied eye sockets, skin boiling at the rim.

"Wow!" cheered Neekos as he hopped over the valley of destroyed geth and clasped his thin arms around Ashley. "You saved me again!"

"Uh, actually, that was Reegar."

"Oh," he said, arms still around her waist, but grip loosened. "...Then this hug shall be in his honor."

Ashley sighed and looked to the other two quarians, who began laughing. "Ah, fanboys, am I right? Some things never change. That was some nice shooting, by the way, Reegar."

The quarian marine chuckled, as if uncertain of how to take praise. "Ah, a quarian soldier's not much if not accurate."

"Looked pretty dead on to me. Is that an M-99 Saber, by the way?"

"Why yes, it is. Tali modified it for me. In return, I finished building her that house. Best anniversary we ever had."

"I'll bet. Looks like it's a good substitute, after they screwed the design of the Mattock."

"Tell me about it. Why Kassa Fabrications had to fix what wasn't broken..."

"It's a little slow for me, though."

"I take it that's why you've got an M-76 Revenant?"

She smirked. "A girls' best friend."

"Gets a little messy with the kickback, though, doesn't it?"

"Not an issue when you're as good a shot as me."

"I can appreciate that."

"You two are such nerds," groaned Tali. She spotted Neekos with his head stuck in his omni-tool screen projections. "And just what are you doing?"

"Taking notes!" he cheered. "This is good stuff."

"Ugh, well anyway, we're almost to the exit, so let's keep moving," she said as she began walking away from the site of battle, shaking her head at the damage it had done to the tomb. "That had better be the last of them."

Ashley took a few steps when her comm device buzzed beside her head. Garrus's voice resounded in her ear as she stood amidst the smoking rubble, spotted with blue blood. "Ash," he said, "how are things on your end?"

"Well, we're all still in one piece. Your sidekick did pretty well for himself. It's almost like he has a tutor that's not you."

"Oh how you wound me," he sneered, "I may never recover from that."

"Anyway, there was a handful of Cannibals. They were trying to eat the corpses buried here, like vultures. And there was a Marauder that took control over some geth."

"That's... not good. We only just fought a couple Cannibals up here, they were doing the same thing, trying to pick at the bones. Only got hostile when we came close."

"Did you see any pods?" she asked as she waved at Tali, who was sticking her head from the corner, motioning them to continue.

"No," his voice was stern in her ear as she bent down to examine the bodies. "We're at the exit now, I can see the doors."

"I just don't understand this... damn, what's that smell?" she said as her nostrils flared, the skin along her nose's bridge cringing, as the fumes of smoking machinery mixed with some other rotted substance wafted over her. "We're not any closer to figuring this out than when we started. Just one batch of weird acting, mutated Reaper soldiers after another."

"I don't know, Ash. Maybe there's nothing _to_ figure out."

"Maybe," she said as the stench led her to the fallen geth Prime. She bent down, studying what was left of its fried mechanical corpse. "But the more I fight these things, the worse I feel about it. It's just... just..."

"Ash? Ashley?"

The Spectre pried open the geth's chest plate, unlocking a trove of synthetic and organic parts. A mesh of machines and meat; wires entwined into tendons, circuits embedded into muscle. "What the hell..."

"Ash!" Tali's voice boomed from outside the tomb, across the outer hallway. "Can you come over here?"

"Actually," shouted Ashley, "you guys might want to come back and see this."

"I don't know about that Miss Ashley," Reegar's voice boomed, "this seems pretty important!"

Ashley's eyes did not leave the corpse of the hybrid geth until she stepped farther backwards, into the next hallway. With an aching swallow, she turned her head and continued down the hall, where the tomb opened again into another stony chamber. The quarians were three little figures against a massive backdrop of metal and debris, basking in sunlight and floating dust particles. The roof of the chamber was but a few tiny corners of stone framing an opened gash. As the Spectre approached, the shadows dimmed, and light revealed a giant construct of coal black metal, scratched and scraped, with a wide wingspan and a bony, jagged form.

"What is this thing?" said Neekos as he barged inside its skeletal bridge.

"It kind of looks like... a ship?" said Ashley as she followed.

Tali was close beside her, eyes scouring every detail, omni-tool flashing. "Certainly not of quarian design... there's a drive core, but it's... broken. I think this has been here for a while."

"So a strange ship crashes here and nobody notices?"

"We're not exactly out in public. This is an old, forgotten relic, and the earth around here is hospitable. A land fit only for the dead."

"We only just got satellites and surveillance drones back up," added Reegar. "Everyone was in such a panic when the geth shut down. They'd done a lot for us in a short time, even our suit rewrites so we didn't get sick as easily. But we were left to pick up the pieces when the war was over. This could have happened just a few years ago and we never would have noticed."

The group marched down the bridge, weapons readied, until the ship opened up into a wide and spherical room. A faint dripping resounded in the background. The floor clung to the soles of their boots as they walked. The support beams were twisted, gnarled lines running the ship's interior, like veins in a corpse. The walls were encased in oozing black and towered above them. Only the tears above and the flashlights on their guns exposed their surroundings, shining on shelves of cracked and opened pods, layers of emptied casings.

Ashley took a hard swallow, a bitter chill gripping her head and clenching her throat. "Well, I guess now we know what's been dropping them off.."

"Keelah," Tali gasped as she broke off from the group to inspect the pods, "this looks like a Collector ship, but they're all empty."

"And they were filled with mutant Husks and Banshees, not humans."

"So this some kind of transport ship?" said Neekos. "They weren't... made here?"

"Reapers had separate ships for transport, and for processing," said Tali, "neither of which were sentient. If that's any indication..."

"But Reapers 'processed' people to make troops or more Reapers, right?" said Ashley, "these things have been acting like animals. And the smarter ones have been trying to gather broken Reaper parts, not that it's some magic puzzle that'll just spring to life once it's together."

"You think it's something else doing this?"

"Sure as hell can't be Reapers, they're dead, Shepard saw to that. What this is... is just craziness."

"There's also the question of how it crashed," said Reegar, "if it was controlled or had a pilot."

"No!" snapped voice, raspy and shaking, from out of the other side of the chamber. A grinding ripped through the eerie calm, the sound of metal and flesh torn. "I don't want it! Refuse!"

An arm, coated in metal, flew across the floor, smearing its path with blood. "They bring me... these parts." The voice continued as a chunk of black stone was chucked towards the wall like dice, banging against the rim. "Try to fix. There's no fixing them. No fixing us."

Ashley and the three quarians raised their weapons as a Marauder limped into view, dragging a dismembered geth along the floor like a rag doll. Bits of hardened flesh still clung to its metallic body, wires hung from its round, crestless head. As it came into the light, Ashley noticed it had a slimmer frame; it was likely a turian woman, at some point in the past. "You should not... be here."

"Neither should you," the Spectre said firmly as she aligned the end of her rifle barrel with the Marauder's head. "The Reapers have been destroyed. There shouldn't be any of you left."

"N-no," said the turian shaped creature, "no there shouldn't be."

"If it wants to stop existing," said Reegar, "I'd be happy to oblige."

"Hold on a second," said Ashley, "I want to know what the hell is going on. Why there's wandering Husks and Cannibals that eat whatever they see, geth with organs! And you! How is it that you can talk?"

"Supposed to... fit," the Marauder's voice fluctuated, from a rumbling whisper to high wailing. It trembled in its stance, as though ready to fall apart at any moment. "just... tests. Didn't work. Couldn't fit. Not the ri... the right vessel."

"Last talking Marauder I fought mentioned a vessel. So what, someone _is _trying to bring you back to life? Bring back the Reapers?"

"No, I don't... I don't..." the creature fell to its knees, elongated claws shaking, head batting about. "It hurts! It's wrong! It's... was... I don't fit! This doesn't fit, it hurts!"

"Tell me what you know, then, and I'll give you a quick death."

"It hurts!" she cried as she flailed about, throwing her hands against the floor, shaking violently. "Was someone. Watching over... waiting for... Someone's mother! I don't fit! Not a vessel! Couldn't do it! Couldn't bear to! It hurts!"

"Couldn't bear to what?"

"Children, crawling... lost. In pain. Couldn't bear it any longer, but... damage was done. Wanted the pain to end."

"What are you saying? You crashed this ship on purpose?"

The Marauder stumbled, chunky streams of black and blue sliding from the ends of its cracking jaw. "Wanted... the pain to stop. Damage was done. Children lost."

"I'm sorry, I can't watch this," said Tali, shuddering, "I don't think we can get anything out of it. We... could try and take it back, study it, but..."

"No!" the Marauder snapped, "get away! Shouldn't be here!"

The creature wound its bony body and made a feral pounce, lunging at Tali. Reegar stepped in front of her and fired his rifle. In mid-air, a slug batted it back the way it came, body tumbled across the bridge. "Sorry, Miss Ashley," he said, looking at Ashley.

"It went hostile," she replied, "You did the right thing. And it was... clearly broken."

"Tali, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Kal," said Tali, "I just... oh..."

"Tali!" the quarian marine cradled her as she slumped backwards, digitigrades sliding against the bridge. "What's wrong?"

"Just a little... woozy."

"Aww, damn it, Tali, you've been pushing yourself too hard," he sighed as he gently scooped her up and walked out of the ship.

"Nooo, put me down," she pouted with weak shakes of her arms and legs.

"Not a chance, Miss Ashley."

"Ooh, you know I hate it when you call me that!"

"Easy now, Tali," said Ashley. She and Neekos followed Reegar as they veered around the crashed ship and towards the end of the tunneling hall, where wide stone doors began to crack open. "Let's just get you out of here, and leave the dead to rest for now."


	11. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Ashley watched the hologram of Shepard pace back and forth within the confines of the Normandy's projection. "A whole ship of them, huh?" he said, voice fizzled.

"Yeah," she sighed, "and another talking Reaper soldier. She... it, seemed like it was in a lot of pain. What it said didn't make a whole lot of sense, but I think, maybe she pulled a kamikaze. The ship was badly damaged, looked like it had been there for a while."

"You seem kind of shaken, Ash."

She shrugged. "Why wouldn't I be? It talked to me, Bas. They're not supposed to do that. It's just wrong, it's evil."

"Couldn't have put it better myself," said Shepard as he ran his fingers through his raven hair. Ashley winced at the sight of it; she knew it was a habit of his, when he was exasperated. "At least if the ship's destroyed and emptied, there won't be any more of them."

"Assuming that was the only ship."

"Yeah..."

"I'm sorry, Bas. I wanted this exchange to be more positive. I wanted to be able to tell you it was all done and taken care of, and we can go home without worry."

"It's all right, you're just telling it like it is. There is some good news, at least. There have been no other sightings, save for one more planet. Alchera."

"That's... the planet where the original Normandy crashed, right? Doesn't fit the pattern. There wouldn't be any Reaper parts there."

"I know, so it'll either give us some insight or another question."

"And the rate this has been going..."

"At least I'll get to see you again. I've missed you."

Ashley's lips twitched, a faint smile appearing on her weary face. "Like I can leave you for more than a week. Tali was right, you are turning into a big softy."

"Are Tali and Reegar joining you? I'd like to see them again."

"No, I'm sorry to say. Tali's fallen ill and Reegar won't leave her side. We had to drop her off, I'm going to check on her one last time before we head out."

"Nothing too serious, I hope."

"I don't think so. She's just overexerted herself, she's lightheaded. Probably hasn't taken a break rebuilding her homeworld since the war ended."

Shepard chuckled. "Sounds like Tali. A shame we couldn't all work together again, though, I would have liked to see how my krogan entourage fairs against your quarian one."

"We would have kicked your ass, don't worry about that. Quarians have lots of energy and everything to prove."

"But krogan have biotics and lots of experience."

"You mean they're old, like you. Does Grunt have to spoonfeed you and remind you where you are?"

"So cruel you are, Ashley. I can handle it, but you know how sensitive Wrex is about his age."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure he'll get over it."

"Well... we're nearly there. I'll let you go for now. But don't keep me waiting too long, Ash. Looks like I need to remind you just how experienced I am."

"Oh, I can _hardly _wait," Ashley sneered as Shepard's projection blinked off. She walked out of the communications room and met Javik's four-eyed gaze on the stairs of the war room. "You... need something, Javik?"

The slits along the prothean's pale face flared as he huffed, his head lowered in contemplation. "You have done well," he said after a dramatic pause.

"You think so?" she said with a shrug. "Can't say I agree. We haven't really figured anything out yet."

"The mission was to eradicate the enemy, and you have led us to do exactly that."

"Yeah, I guess I did do that. Thank you, Javik. And hey, thanks for coming along. You've been a big help." Javik only responded with another step towards the Spectre. "Uh... is that all?" She saw him raise his hands and took a step backwards. "Oh, no, please don't do that thing-"

But his palms were already planted on her temples. Her vision went black, webs of devil red spewed from the darkest corners of her mind. Flashes of smoke and fire erupted, shedding light on statues for a brief moment before swallowed up by shadow. Soldiers and civilians running, and mechanical men impaling them, shooting them. Twisted creatures in the shape of men capturing them, dragging them along a soiled earth. Clusters of crying families and abandoned comrades, left to be consumed by the destruction. A ring of faces hovered overhead, trying to clear away the darkness and banish the bloodshed, but the darkness was too great, swallowing everything in its path.

Ashley shook her head once the sight of the war room returned. She put her hand to her forehead until her eyes were still and the room stopped shaking. "You know, Javik," she growled, "if you had asked, I would have maybe considered letting you do that. Eventually. At some point."

"You are very familiar with death," said Javik, "it has been with you for much of your life."

"That tends to be the case when you're a soldier," she said, unnerved by the prothean's somber utterance. "You probably know that better than I do," as she began to step around him, feeling his eyes press on her as she walked away.

"I do, but it is a presence that lingers with you. Follows you. Regret and shame are the causes."

"There are plenty of lives I wish I could have saved. But I'm not ashamed. I've done all I can to do right by them. To be worth their lives. And I like to think I've done just that."

"...Indeed."

"Why did you do that, then? You needed proof?"

"Knowing and understanding are two different things. I knew you were a capable warrior, and now I understand your resilience... Commander."

"Well... okay, then, glad to hear it" she said, easing the indignation in her voice as she continued to step away. "I'm going to check on Tali before we rejoin Shepard. Do you want to come along?"

"No need. I am already aware of her condition."

Ashley slanted her brow and cocked her head. "Is that... so?"

"Indeed. She is with child. It was foolhardy of her to venture out in her condition, if not slightly admirable."

"Oh sure, she... wait, what!?"

Ashley jogged through the hall of the medical facility and shuffled through crowds of busied quarians before spotting her companions. Garrus, James, and Reegar were talking amongst themselves, while Neekos sat a distance away on a bench, head drowned in projections from his omni-tool.

"Hey, kiddo," she said as she took a seat next to the young quarian. "Can I get an update? Do you know what's going on?"

"Not really," answered Neekos, "Miss Zorah couldn't walk, so we had to bring her here. They kicked out Mister Reegar. We've been waiting for a while."

"I see," she said, chewing on her lip, unsure if she wanted to reveal what Javik told her, or if it was even true. "I'm sure she's fine... Hey, help me out with something. Now that quarians have their world back, do you think they'll all use 'vas Rannoch' in their names? Seems a little redundant to me."

"I wouldn't know, Miss Ashley. I don't live on Rannoch. I go back and forth between wherever Head Advisor Vakarian sends me and the Citadel."

"So you don't have a home?"

"Not really. I had a falling out with my parents before my Pilgrimage. Then the war started and... it's been a while. I get messages from them, but I don't usually answer."

"Aww, kid. If your family's out there, you have to see them."

"You think so? I don't know, it's been so long."

"Kid, listen. Your boss used to be a disgruntled cop. Your hero, Reegar, was presumed dead and almost got turned into a new Reaper drone. I was blacklisted for something my grandfather did. And let's not forget the known galaxy almost got wiped out by giant lobster ships. So I think you can patch things up with your parents."

The young quarian paused, eyes glanced over to his portable screen. "Okay... yeah. I'll talk to Head Advisor Vakarian about taking some time off."

"Are you... talking to someone?"

"Yeah, my girlfriend on the Citadel. She thinks it's a good idea, too. I was just letting her know I'm okay. She gets really worried and... we don't spend as much time together as we'd like."

"A girlfriend, huh?" Ashley smirked. "How about some details? It wouldn't happen to be that cute human girl you were with when we rescued you after the refugee ship crashed, would it?"

Puffs of antibacterial mist were regularly pumped throughout the building's ventilation. Neekos had lowered his hood and sat his mask beside him. He had a bony and pale face, grey with hints of blue, like it was molded from cobalt. Somewhere in the foreign head ridges and the alien white eyes, he had a face like that of any earnest young man on Earth, who was just learning to appreciate girls and find his place in a big, confusing galaxy. "Maybe," he said, with a smirk.

"That's great, kid. I'm happy for you two. But hey, don't work yourself too hard. You have to make time for her if you're gonna make it work."

"Right, of course! Thank you, ma'am. And, um... sorry about all the... hugging."

"Don't worry about it. I know I have that kind of effect on men. Just try to save it for your girlfriend from now on."

"Of course, ma'am."

"Man..." Ashley slumped in her seat and sighed, "you really have to make time for the people you care about. Feels like forever since I've really spent time with Shepard. We had plans before this mission. This was important and all, but... damn, we've got so much time to make up for."

"Oh, I heard something about 'plans' from Head Advisor Vakarian..."

"Yeah, and apparently you're following his footsteps in not keeping your mouth shut." She said with a laugh as she stood up. "I'm gonna go try and see Tali, we gotta get things underway..." She started to walk away, then pedaled back, saw the young quarian with shifting, uncertain eyes. "Hey," she said as she dipped her head down and planted a gentle peck on his cheek. "Just give it some thought. And thanks for all your help, Garrus did a good job training you."

"I..." Neekos froze before he looked to her, a hand shaking over his cheek. "I... I will! I'll try to find them! And I... well, I'd say I'll never wash this cheek again, but then I might die from it."

Ashley smiled and walked away, incoherent stammering behind her, and towards the three men waiting beside a locked door.

"...That's nothing," she heard Garrus say as she approached, "I was surrounded by mercs on Omega, by myself, and I still took down every one of them, each with a single shot."

"You sure love telling that story, Scars," said James.

"Hey, it's a good story."

"It's impressive, I'll admit," said Reegar, "but it sounds like mostly amateurs you were shooting down. Before I got captured on Palaven, I had to protect my men while we were swarmed with Reaper soldiers. Virtually no cover, and they were coming from every direction. Picked them off, some of them over 400 yards away."

"That's how marines do it," said Ashley as she patted Reegar on the shoulder. "And that was some nice work finishing off that geth, by the way."

"Hell yeah," said James, "sounds like some good shooting, Tex."

The quarian marine's brow curved. "Tex?"

"It's, ah... well, it's something humans call each other when they... shoot stuff good."

"I like it better than Red. Has a nice ring to it."

"Okay, okay, I get it. Wouldn't be the first time someone's crapped on my nicknames. I'll start filling out the paperwork for the change."

"Kal...?" Tali's voice slipped in through the crack of the opening door. Without a word, the quarian marine rushed in. Ashley, Garrus, and James walked in after him, and found him by Tali's side, gripping her frame, as she lay on a bed with wires and screens laced all around.

"Tali!" he said, his voice hoarse. "Are you okay?"

"I... I'm," the quarian woman battled a few wheezes, but the smile on her face remained throughout. "I am doing wonderfully."

"There is no reason to worry," said the doctor hovering above the bed, "Tali'Zorah is pregnant."

Reegar's white eyes were wide, angular jaw dropped. "You... Tali, you're... I'm gonna... we're gonna be parents?"

Tali's form melted into the bed, barely moving. A meek laugh driveled from her pale mouth as she slowly brought a hand to Reegar's. "Yes, Kal. I'm sorry, I... I wasn't sure. There was so much to do, I just..."

"Come on, now, Tali, it's okay. You just need to relax for a while."

"A while? How long is that? There's still so much to do, and now we have to build an expansion on our house!"

Reegar chuckled. "You let me worry about all that, Tali."

"Congratulations, you two," said Garrus.

"If you guys ever need a sitter, I'm available!" said Neekos, head popping out from the hall.

"Woah, Sparks is having a baby?" said James, "GuessTex's aim was pretty good-ow!"

"Vega, really!" snapped Ash as she drove her fist against his shoulder. "Are you twelve? Seriously, you're a giant, hulking twelve-year-old..." She stepped closer to the quarian couple, her pink lips stretched with a wide grin. "I'm really happy for you two. Your kid's gonna be adorable."

"You haven't seen quarian babies, then," laughed Tali, "they're all grey and squishy. Like little lumps of clay with arms and legs."

"Well, then, yours will be the luckiest little lump of clay ever, because it'll have you guys as parents."

"Thank you, Ash. Thank you, everyone... I'm just sorry I won't be able to go with you all. I would have liked to seen Shepard and everyone again."

"Hey, no worries. We'll come back and visit you real soon. And we'll throw you a baby shower!"

"I don't know what that is, but I'm excited about it."

Ashley sat in the observation deck, eyes bouncing back and forth between the scrolling luminescent words of her Spectre report projections and the ongoing expanse of space. The dim lighting of the room weighed down upon her eyelids, her head sinking into the cushion as her body went limp.

"Napping on the job, are we?" Garrus's voice emerged from behind, the shock of it jolting Ashley into full consciousness.

"Oh, shit, Garrus, you startled me!" she cried, watching the turian as he walked around the couch to sit beside her.

"You really don't like being the captain's cabin, do you?"

"It's not like I don't ever use it, not gonna sleep on a couch when I have a bed. Usually. But sometimes... it's just not that same without Shepard."

"True, he is what kept us together..."

"And what brought us all back."

"But he's not what makes us great. He's helped us realize it, sure, but little by little, we're all finding our own way. I'm doing that, and I'm pretty sure you're doing that."

"Yeah, I am. Heh, couple years ago, no one would have ever guessed a Williams would become a Spectre."

"And even I wouldn't have guess I'd become right hand man of the Primarch someday. We've done well for ourselves."

"Yeah, we have."

"So... what happens now?"

"Nothing much, if Alchera turns out to be more of the same. The mission was just to investigate, see if these rumors of Reaper troop sightings were real, and exterminate them if they were. I already sent my reports, so I guess after the Council finishes wetting themselves, they'll send a science team to examine our findings. Not that I'll blame them, this is the last thing any of us would want, just as we get rebuilding underway."

"So then... they might not discover anything. This could be it. We could just kill the last of them, the 'bottom of the barrel', as you humans say. Just reject soldiers, left wandering for a purpose, not even realizing the war's already over."

"Yeah, that was my guess before the mission started. It's just... there was something... very, very wrong about those things. That Marauder... it talked. It almost remembered who she was before she changed. The Reapers were evil, repurposing people into their army. And it was like what we saw were... trying to become people again. It was... unholy."

"It was unsettling, yeah. But you're a Spectre. You could continue the investigation."

"I think I will do that."

"I really should get back to Palaven once we're done, but if you ever need anything, Ash, I'm always ready to help."

The Spectre looked up at her turian friend and smiled. "Helps to have friends in high places, I'll bet. Thanks. You know, Garrus, I've been meaning to say something to you for a while."

"Ash, it's a little late to confess your feelings for me. I know it's hard to resist all _this_, but I'm not coming between you and Shepard. And he doesn't seem like the sharing type."

"Oh, you son of a bitch, I'm trying to be serious!" she said with a fierce pinch against the still cracked patch of scarred flesh on his face. "I just wanted to say thanks. For watching out for Shepard all those years. When I... couldn't be there for him."

"Well, he did help me out a bit first, but sure, no problem. And it's not like I hold it against you. I know things were... tricky, for a while, what with Cerberus and everything, but you followed your own path. You were always good at doing things your own way, from the very beginning. I needed a lot of help in that regard, so... I admire that, is what I'm trying to say."

"Oh, so you _do_ know there are ways to get things done besides Shepard's way?"

"Well, yeah, I do now..."

"Huzzah! He's seen the light!"

"Hey, now I'm the one trying to be serious!"

Ashley laughed. "Sorry. But you're right. We've all done pretty well. Even with Bastian retired, we still manage. We're making good on all he did for us."

"I don't suppose you have any alcohol? Because that sounds like something to toast to."

"Sorry, Garrus, we're still on the clock. We can all drink after Alcheron."

"Fair enough."

"Hey, Garrus? Do you mind if I ask... do turians...that is, when someone dies, do you believe they're watching over you? Or that they're with you, in some way?"

"Hmm?" Garrus's brow plate shifted, mandibles twitched as he processed the question. "Well, no, not really. Souls that go to the afterlife are completely separate from the living, just like the Spirits. Some turians believe when a person dies, they become a part of the spirit that best embodied who they were. Not that I was ever that observant about it, but... turians usually just honor the dead, not ask them for guidance or anything."

"Oh, okay. Sure, that makes sense."

"Why do you ask?"

"It's nothing, really. It's just, me, you, and Tali working together again, always makes me think."

"About Kaidan?"

"Yeah. I know it was a long time ago, but those days were important to me."

"They were important to all of us. And hey, all that stuff I said... really just applies to turians. No saying that human souls don't watch out for the living."

"I like to think he's proud of us, watching up there."

"Yeah, that's not a bad way of looking at it."

"Commander Williams!" Traynor's voice resounded, "Doctor T'Soni is trying to message you! Patching her through now."

"Liara's with Shepard, right?" said Ashley as she hopped from her seat and headed towards the communications room. "I wonder what she could want..."

"Ashley? Ashley, please come in," the asari's voice trembled through, her fuzzy likeness in the quantum entanglement mechanism.

"Something wrong?" she responded as she jogged into the room. "We're on our way to Alcheron."

"Yes, I know, but... how far are you? Is there any way you can get here sooner?"

"We're nearly there... why?"

"I'm sorry, Ash. So sorry. I... Shepard's missing."


	12. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

A storm of swirling white and winding howls followed the Spectre and her three teammates as they departed the Normandy and walked along the planet' icy surface. Violent streams of wind echoed as the air looped around blue cliffs and through formations of frosted rock. Javik encased the group in a sphere of his own biotic power, shielding the group from the snow while lighting their obscured path with a halo of green. Snow and hail berated them at every step, crashing down on the sphere like crystallized bullets. They broke apart and melted against the biotic flare, turning to steam that further clouded the path.

"Hey, Buggy, this thing come with windshield wipers?" cackled James, half joking, "can't see a damn thing!"

"I can survive far worse conditions than this," the prothean snarled, "perhaps you would like to see how long you can survive without my assistance."

"Knock it off, you two," Ashley shouted, voice echoing through her helmet, "we all need to focus if we're gonna find Shepard."

"Liara's nearby, isn't she?" said Garrus.

"This is where her signal came from, anyway. Let's just hope she stayed put."

"Unless whatever took Shepard has come back for the others," said Javik.

Ashley rolled her eyes. "Yeah, not helping."

"Hey, look!" said James as he pointed outward. "I see someone! Is that her?"

Ashley squinted past the glowing sphere and bloated curtains of snow. What was a speck of grey in one moment became a faint human-shaped silhouette in the next. "It's... someone, anyway."

The group advanced towards the obscured figure, features still clouded. They heard the thump of feet against snow and a string of moans against the whirring of wind and snow, and as it came closer, the sound multiplied. A wiry frame appeared in the group's path, jogging with flailing arms, groaning all the while. As it drew closer, a group of identical figures emerged from the icy veils, all mimicking its frantic running.

"Husks!" Ashley shouted as she whipped out her rifle, Garrus and James following her motion. Javik loosened his stance and spread his fingers, allowing the sphere of biotic power to disperse. A spew of slugs knocked the Husks down, their cracked heads making a thud against the earth, their guts staining the snow. But for as many as they brought down, more came running through the storm, indifferent to the snow filling their gaping wounds or the fire that killed their fellow Husks.

"Shepard!" a deep, guttural voice boomed in the distance, with the sound of blasting slugs and crunching flesh and crystals.

The voice made Garrus flinch. "That sounds like... Grunt? Hey!" In a second of ceasefire, one of the Husks brushed against the turian's shoulder, only to keep running. What the... crap, you're not getting away!" The turian caught the runaway Husk's head in his rifle scope, squeezed the trigger, and watched its grey skull burst into chunks of black and blue, with ribbons of red scattered across the ice.

"Shepaaaaard!" the same voice resounded again, whining and groaning in distress. "Where are you, Shepard?"

The four jogged into the thicket of snow to find the tankborn krogan standing amidst a ring of dead Husks, deep footprints in the snow and in their skulls. He chucked the last living one into the ground and stomped on its ribcage like it were made of brittle wood. He looked around until his blue eyes locked onto the four. "Shepard...?" he whimpered with a tilted head, a slight and hopeful rise in his tone, like a giant, confused puppy.

"No, Grunt," Ashley sighed, shaking her head, "we don't have Shepard with us. We just got here." The krogan only huffed in response.

"Grunt!" cried Liara as she, Zaeed and a female turian sprinted towards the krogan, moving under a sphere of wavering blue energy. "I told you not to stray from the group!"

"I thought I saw him!" Grunt barked, kicking a hill of snow in his rebellion.

The asari shook her head, then placed focus on Ashley and her team. "Oh, Ashley, thank the Goddess you came so quickly."

"What's the situation?" said the Spectre.

"We found some shelter not too far from here. Come on, we'll take you there and try to formulate a plan."

The group huddled in a shack of scraps, a mix of metal and wood crammed into an icy crevice. Ashley reared her head out of the window and glazed over darkened valley. The storm began to subside, the rush of falling crystal nails reduced to a flurry, though violent winds still whipped at the walls. Bits of wreckage jutted from the earth, burdened with fallen snow. Ice and dirt clung to every bit, filling the emptied gashes in the ground. Tiny crystals dwindled from the bloated clouds above, but turned to watery mush when they touched the surface.

"Spectre Williams?" an unfamiliar voice yanked Ashley's focus from the outside, making her turn to see the turian from before. "Lieutenant Nachthex Caelus," she said while saluting, her mandibles twitching. "I was Spectre Shepard's shuttle pilot. I take full responsibility for this mess."

"At ease, Lieutenant," Ashley said gently, "I'm not looking to blame anyone. Just tell me what happened."

"Right, of course," said the pilot as she eased out of her tense stance. "The storm came upon us quickly and we had to make an emergency landing. We were headed to what was supposed to be the drop point, when we were attacked."

"By Husks."

"No. I mean, it looked like one, from what I could tell, but bigger. Much bigger. And smarter. You may have seen all those Husks just running. This thing followed us. It was hunting us. Or hunting Shepard, since it disappeared once we realized he was gone."

"Doesn't sound like anything is your fault, Lieutenant. These are extreme conditions."

"Turians are always supposed to be prepared for extreme conditions. If I had maintained a safer altitude, or if I'd double checked the drive core, then maybe..."

"Lieutenant," Garrus said sternly, "turians are also supposed to adapt. What we did wrong can wait for the next mission. For now, let's focus on how we can fix our current predicament."

"Head Advisor Vakarian, Sir!" Nachthex exclaimed with another salute. "Of course, Sir!"

"At ease... again."

"Right, Sir. I still don't like this. I survived the Reaper War. I helped take down two capital ships! For me to get so sloppy now... I still feel punishment is in order."

Ashley laughed. "I could bend you over my knee and give you a spanking," Garrus shot her a baffled look, brow plates lifted high, mandibles flicked. "Oh, keep it in your pants, Garrus, I was joking."

"Right, right..." the turian shook his head and turned to Liara, who was from one end to the shack to the other. "This is about where you lost contact with Shepard, isn't it?" he asked her.

"Yes," Liara answered, her voice still shaking, "the storm came so violently, I could barely see. I got careless... I heard this awful gurgling sound. I kept shouting, but Shepard never answered, and now I can't locate his omni-tool's signal."

"Man," Ashley inserted as she gave her rifle a thorough examination, busying herself with the details and working order of her gun. "Could he have found a more depressing planet to get lost on?" She gave out a light chuckle, but when it was answered with silence, she looked up and saw wide eyes and shifting brows and brow-plates. "You guys aren't actually worried, are you? Come on, I found him in London, I'll find him again."

"This is Shepard we're talking about," said Garrus, trying to wedge humor in the flang of his voice.

Liara shuddered, "Yes, but... it's just... everything that's ever happened to him... Mindoir, getting spaced on the original Normandy, only for me to... and then with the Catalyst. As much as Shepard amazes me with his resilience... how many times can a person be put back together before..."

"I lost him!" Grunt bellowed. "It was me! My fault! Wrex told me to go along and look after him and I lost him!"

"Ugh, settle down, kid," grumbled Zaeed.

"Wait," said Ashley, "Wrex wanted Grunt to look after Shepard?"

"Shepard's been shaky with his biotics ever since the missions started. Almost got me killed. Big guy must've noticed, so he made junior here come with us."

The tankborn krogan continued to thrash about. "I had one job! ONE job!"

"Grunt, Grunt! Just relax, throwing a tantrum isn't going to help now." Ashley clapped her hands against his face and forced eye contact. "Look at me. Calm down. It's okay," She felt the rocky ridges along his head still, and gave him a pat. "There we go. Hey, you remember Beowulf? That story I read you?"

"...Yeah."

"Remember when he fought Grendel's mother all by himself? She dragged him into her lair and he was all alone?"

"Yeah."

"Do you remember what happened?"

"He... he killed her!" he exclaimed with a confident shake of the arms. "He killed her by himself!"

"That's right! And I'll bet Shepard is doing just that, just waiting for us to pick him up!"

"Wow," said Garrus, "you actually calmed him down. You've read to Grunt?"

"Epic poetry. Not my usual thing, but it was a nice way for us to bond."

"Bond?"

"Hey, considering his relationship with Shepard, he's like... my stepson or something."

"It seems Commander Williams has a talent for turning fierce beasts into docile pets," Javik said with a deep, grumbling chuckle.

"Hey, I'm going to wear you down next."

"I'm sorry," Liara blurted out, "but I just don't see how you can all be so casual about this! Who knows what this creature could be doing with Shepard!"

"Not killing him, that's for sure," said Ashley. "Whatever this thing is, it probably took advantage of the storm and Shepard's... rustiness. But he's gone through too much. He's put me through too much to leave now. I have faith in him, and I know you all do too."

"I... I do," Liara sighed, "it's just..."

"Just easing the tension, Liara," said Garrus. "Although we do need to figure something out, and soon. Time is a factor here."

"That it is," said the Spectre as she looked out the window again, spotting faint little grey figures in the distance. "Those Husks all seem to be coming from one direction. Maybe they're running from something?"

"Might be a longshot, but it's all we have right now."

"All right, then!" the Spectre projected her voice, a rallying cry that shook the shack's brittle foundations. "The storm's clear and we've got more than enough firepower to save Shepard's sorry ass. Everyone, move out!"

"Ashley..." said Liara, her gentle tone suspending the Spectre's march. "Before we go, Shepard... it's just that... I think there's been something he's been wanting to ask you, and..."

Ashley shook her head and smiled. "Liara, it's okay. He's fine. Whatever he wants to ask me, he can do it after we get him."


	13. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Shepard heard his own groan echo before the darkness cleared. When his sight returned to him, he found a blurry haze of red filtering his surroundings. He somehow managed to hoist himself onto his feet, but his thighs ached and his back burned. His upper body teetered over, and his fingers grappled to the walls-nails digging in some unknown gunk and mush-just to stop himself from collapsing. A few forced blinks, and the haze dissipated. He saw his hands first, one scarred and calloused, the other clean. They were both sunken into a lump, reddish surface, like a wall made of soft meat. He gave it a squeeze, just to be sure he was seeing correctly. The walls squished and curdled as pale red juice leaked outs and trickled onto his knuckles.

"Ugh!" he grunted as he threw himself backwards, only to have his back meet another wall, shoulder blades sinking into the mush. "Damn it!" he said as he stumbled away.

He looked around, and found nothing but red and more red. Thick wires hung from the wall, slick with grease, like strings of tendon. The floor beneath him was metal, but stained with scarlet. The walls absorbed every step he took. The ceiling was lumpy, fleshy pinkish stalagmites hanging overhead, some came so close as to brush against the hairs on Shepard's scalp. Much as he tried to keep steady, the tunnel pulsated, a subtle thumping in the walls as he walked.

"What the hell is this place..." he mumbled. Dark eyes squinted, sweat dripping off his brow, he found a speck of light at the end of the oozing, meaty tunnel.

"Is that... where I came in? I don't remember... I wouldn't have..." Shepard shook his head, trying to place his location, but where he stood matched no place in his mind. Brow furling, veins on his crown aching to muster concentration, his memory only took him to the surface of Alchera. A crash, a storm, and a sudden gathering of shadow was all he could recollect. Then everything went dark and numb. "Damn it, I don't remember," Shepard had to stop, hands on his knees, gathering air. It was bloated and salty, he choked and gagged. "Doesn't matter, just get out. Get out of this place."

With a huff, nostrils flared, he continued to walk down the tunnel. Head knocked back and forth, feet trudging along the hall of oozing meat and bloodied gobs. A few squishes and scrapes along the floor, he heard a faint scurrying beside him. He tilted his head and found a little green creature, walking on two sets of legs, like a giant praying mantis with big black eyes.

"A... a Keeper?"

The insect-like creature paid the Spectre no mind as it dragged a dead Husk along the tunnel with its tiny pincer hands. The Keeper hurried out of Shepard's site, as quickly as it came, into the growing light at the end. Shepard tried to run, he picked up his leg with greater force, but a heated sting struck him down. Another Keeper whooshed passed him, dragging away half a Cannibal. The Batarian-shaped creature moaned, its mouth still moving back and forth, jaw still chewing air. "Oh God," Shepard breathed.

As the Spectre approached the end of the tunnel, what he first saw as a passage back outside, to the snowy planet, was an entrance to a downward slope. With a gasp, Shepard tripped over a mound of meat, body fumbling over a slanted cliff of slicked rock. The fall was so quick, his strength so strained, he could not even shout as he fumbled downward, just a groan as his shoulder slammed onto the floor beneath.

Shepard rolled over, eyelids heavy. His body ached, as if his armor were holding it hostage, plates pressing against him. He forced himself onto his knees, chest heaving. A quick look around, and he found himself in what looked to be a cave, rippling rocks and blackened crystals. Piles of Reaper soldier bodies scattered about, motionless Husks in one, dead Banshees in another. Some were complete corpses, other reduced to a few limbs. Keepers walked from pile to pile, busying themselves with all the parts. He looked ahead, front and center, and found the source of the light he saw from all the way across the tunnel.

It was a pillar, bright energy jutting from a crown of crystals on the ground, to a matching one on the ceiling. The light before him was intense, like a long gaze into the morning sun after a long and dark night. It swirled with ribbons of pure white, streams of brilliance flowing and twisting, a faint humming sound as it moved. The sight of it stung Shepard, made his skin tighten. As he planted his feet into the ground and slowly stood himself upward, he noticed a Keeper creep towards him, carrying a Husk body. Back on two feet, he took a shaky step towards the pillar, and watched the creature throw the Husk into the light. The wiry gray body was swallowed up by the white, little particles carried off into the unknown by the ongoing current.

"What the hell?" he gasped.

"Oh good, you're awake!" a voice poured in, its echo bouncing on all corners of the cave. Shepard whipped his head about, but found no one. It was a groggy, gurgling voice, deep in baritone. "I wanted you to be at full awareness for this."

"Who's there?" said Shepard, eyes darting about. "Do you know what this place is? Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I've been around," the voice began with a rich chuckle, "for some time. And we've met. I'm a little sorry you don't recognize me, though I can't say I blame you."

Shepard's teeth grinded as they clenched together, thick brow slanting in frustration. On the ground, he found only more Keepers. His sight veered upward, and found a vein of black gunk throbbing along the wall. There was a lump traveling along the wall through that vein, like a dead animal being swallowed by a snake. His hands flew to his side, but his weapons were gone. "Damn it," he muttered. "Okay, I'm not playing any games. If you can't help me, I'm leaving."

"Leaving?" the voice said in a feigned gasp. "You're not at all curious about the Keepers? Or the Husks, the Banshees, the Brutes?"

"I know I've seen enough of these things for a dozen lifetimes. I don't care where they came from, if I can destroy them so they never come back."

"Oh, Shepard," the voice laughed. "Typical, destructive Bastian Shepard." The mention of his first name made the Spectre flinch, but he turned away and growled. He walked around the pillar, but the cave stretched out before him, pile after pile. Another pillar, identical to the one before, came into sight, but he turned away. All the while, he heard a slippery gushing; that lump in the wall still following him. "You really think you can just shoot all your problems away, don't you?"

"I don't always shoot them," he sneered, clenching his fists, tiny embers of blue energy flaring from his fingers. "Either way seems to work."

"But you still destroy. You take things apart. You kill things. Kill people. That's all you know, isn't it?"

"Are you here to judge me, condemn me? Is this Hell, and you're the Devil? Because I would believe that."

"Oh, I see. You're just going to keep deflecting me, hmm? I'm just a trick, a little voice in your head, perhaps. Best not to feed me any information, else I throw it against you and you unknowingly reveal your weakness to me!"

There was a pause, a bitter moment of silence, before the lump squirmed farther ahead and said, "You know, people have always underestimated the Keepers. Called them mindless. Little more than maintenance drones. How is it that creatures can exist for so long, and people think so little of them?" Shepard answered with the sound of his feet thumping against the ground. So the voice continued, "but they're far more intelligent than people give them credit for. They can sneak into ships, scavenge for parts, build shelter... not to mention find and traverse the tears in reality."

The footsteps stopped. Shepard made a hard swallow and looked up again. "What... the hell does that mean?"

"Oh, come on now," said the voice as the lump squirmed into the wall, bubbling and expanding. "You really think you're still on Alchera? Some icy rock floating in space? Do you think you're dreaming? Perhaps imagining all this from fever, from dehydration? No, this is much, much better."

Shepard stepped away as the lump began to grow, the vein in the wall tearing itself off. Bubbles and boils of slickened black spread throughout the cave, moving along with the lump like legs on a spider. Wraps of black flesh stretched, joints formed and snapped into place. He took another step back, jaw quivering, as a human shape formed in front of him, towering over him, with tubes and sinews coursing throughout holes in its chest and stomach. A lipless mouth grinned at him, flashing white, with empty eye sockets, weeping with ooze. It looked like a giant, muscle-bound Husk.

"What... are you?" groaned Shepard.

"You don't like it?" the human-shaped creature said in a dripping, smarmy voice. "That's not nice. The Keepers did the best they could."

"Why would the Keepers make you? They were supposed to maintain the Citadel for the Reapers."

The Homunculus sneered, his rigid mouth curling, a whole row of teeth visible, sending shivers into Shepard. "Just so, and as it happens, I am the Citadel. I am its core intelligence."

"Are you... can't be. Are you trying to tell me... you're the Catalyst?" The creature only snickered in return, slowly stepping towards the Spectre, but he pedaled back. "That's not possible. I destroyed you. That was the deal, damn it. I took the risk, I made the sacrifice, I lost EDI and the geth, I made people suffer, just so you would cease to exist."

The Homunculus laughed. "Do you know what you humans are made out of? Water, mostly. Hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon... you're all just lumps of chemicals and gases. You have parts that were once the stuff of stars. Some of you like to romanticize that. Humans tend to do that, as do asari, batarians and drell. Some quarians, too. You like to make these random phenomenon seem meaningful."

Shepard kept moving backward, vigilant to keep a stern glare on his face, The glow of the pillar shone from behind hi, so intense he squinted.

"There is more to it than that, though, isn't there?" the creature continued. "You can't just slap all those chemicals together and make a person. Even the genetically engineered need a progenitor, a design, a mold to fill. Like that woman you knew... Miranda, was it? Yes, she was supposed to be perfect, wasn't she? Heal faster, live longer? How has that worked out for her, hmm?"

Shepard gnashed his teeth, fires of biotics flickering from his hands. "Don't speak ill of the dead."

"Oh, but that's the beauty of it, Bastian. Nothing truly dies. Bodies decay, their remains seep into earth and give life anew. Perhaps Mordin will make a lovely shrubbery on Tuchunka, or Kaidan a tree on Virmire?"

"Shut up," growled Shepard.

"Oh, I see. I disgust you. Perhaps I can adjust to a more pleasing form?" The Homunculus's Husk-like face caved inward, an implosion of bubbling black flesh from the neck up, slipping together like greasy sacks of meat. A face of pale grey emerged, a human face, with a straight nose and a square chin. The familiar visage caused Shepard's eyes to widen in disgust and shock.

"Illusive Man?" he said, fighting the gasp with gritting teeth.

"I'm not just the Catalyst anymore," said the Homunculus, wearing the face of the dead Cerberus leader. "The Keepers brought me what was left of him, and I made do... but there was... someone else, too, wasn't there?"

Shepard winced. "No..."

"Oh yes!" The Homunculus cheered as his face caved in again, resurfacing with a new structure, a wider nose and firmer chin. The creature saw Shepard twist and snarl at the sight of the dead Alliance hero, his mentor, David Anderson. It sneered, "What's the matter, Bastian? Not feeling nostalgic? Didn't you miss me?"

"You are NOT him!" he barked. His feet wedged in the ground, he pulsed with biotic flames and threw a disc of blue energy at the monster. It hit the creature in its chest, but sunk into its mushy flesh. "Damn it."

"Now, now, behave yourself," said the creature with Anderson's face as his muscled limbs stretched out like putty and thwacked Shepard down. "I want you in as close to mint condition as possible."

"Ugh," Shepard groaned as he pushed himself across the floor, waiting for the energy to pool inside him so he could get up. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"This body has served me well enough, but I can't go far outside this plane of existence in it. I need a new body, a perfect vessel for the new harbinger."

"New...?" Shepard spat out, patting his armor in search of his tech armor. But he was bare, just a man in a simple suit of armor. "So you _have _been trying to rebuild the Reapers?"

"Not rebuild, revive. We're alive, Bastian. We can't be killed, we can't be destroyed!" The Homunculus slapped Shepard, sending him tumbling across the cave, into a pile of dead Cannibals. "We still exist, in some form. We only needed the spark of life, the vital essence, to put all the pieces back together."

The Spectre shook his head, arms trembling as they hoisted his upper body from the mess of bodies. "Vital essence? You've been putting souls into dead Reaper troops?"

"Call it what you will," said the Homunculus as it raised its rubbery arms and slammed them downward. Shepard rolled out of the way, the creature's hands slapping the ground. With Anderson's face, it frowned. "Some react to it better than others. Some outright reject them, little more than animals. But they serve their purpose. Years of collecting..." The monster stated plainly as his limbs swiped across the floor, knocking Shepard off his feet. "...Little by little, piece by piece..." It reached for his ankle, elongated fingers slipping across his boot, but he kicked it away and fumbled to his feet. "And now, finally, they've brought you to me. My perfect vessel. I witnessed a most glorious moment as you destroyed the Crucible. Before my consciousness drifted, I watched be eaten by flames, only to rise, stronger than ever! Once I possess you, I can easily reclaim what is mine, resurrect the Reapers with enlightened purpose! A new, single, perfect race, free of death!"

"That's insane!" Shepard thundered as he rolled to his feet, biotics pulsing. He opened his palm and energy poured from him, towards the Homunculus. The waves of blue crashed against Anderson's likeness like a smack of an ocean current, making it tip over slightly. Its lip flared.

"You don't understand!" it hollered as it grabbed Shepard and pounded him to the ground, then marched towards him, its limbs retracting. "You will never understand. You have not been enlightened. I am done playing with you."

"Damn it," Shepard growled, heart reverberating, bones shaking, his skin coated with sweat. "You won't take me," he retaliated as the monster wrapped expanded fingers around his body. "You may think all I do is kill. You think you see all, know all. You're not God, you are not fit to judge me! I won't let you condemn me!" Shepard watched the Homunculus's new face grin as its fingers squeezed against him. He spit in its vacant, milk colored eye. "I have a life to rebuild! I have someone to live for!"

"You have nothing!" yelled the monster as it grabbed Shepard's hand and pulled it apart from his wrist.

His scream boomed as he watched his own tendons and wires spill out, gushing streams of red and silver, spilling and sizzling. The agony scraped his throat until his voice went hoarse, and when there was no voice left within him, the cave around him went dark. As his vision blurred, eyes shut, the last thing Shepard saw was Anderson's face sinking into bags of black flesh.


	14. Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

A scream tore through Shepard's silent, dreamless slumber. High pitched, rattling with fury. In his daze, he could not place who it came from, though he could tell it was a woman. "Bastian!"

"By the Goddess!" cried another woman, shrill with horror. "It... it's eating him!"

"What the fuck is that thing?" shouted a man's voice.

"It looks like a big, mutated Husk!" said another.

"It's dead, is what it is!" declared a third man, his voice flanging.

With groans dripping from his lips, Shepard's eyes lifted. His body was gripped with searing pain, burning aches biting his limbs. Teeth clenched down, he made a fist with one hand, but the other would not respond. He found his body cocooned in oozing, rubbery black. He struggled, shifted his shoulders, wagged his legs, but the mystery substance only squirmed and covered up more of his body. He bent his neck down and saw that he was pinned against the icy wall of a cavern, pressed against rock, the bitter chill battling the pain of his injuries. Beneath him, a group of people in armor raised their weapons against a massive, bubbling, vaguely human creature.

His weary focus found a woman in blue armor at the vanguard, her rifle spraying a rapid succession of fire. "A-Ashley..." Shepard groaned, his throat dry and stripped, unable to produce more than a whisper.

A turian stepped next to her, firing from his gun wit one hand, summoning his omni-tool with another. His device sent a wrapping of white lightning around a serpentine limb, making it recoil in pain. With a gurgling shriek, the limb recovered and thwacked the turian across the cave.

"Garrus!" shouted Ashley, "damn it!" She fired a concussive round at the twisting limb and it fell, slapping onto the rocky ground. The main body writhed in anger, sending a barrage of limbs, arms with clenching nails, shooting from every crevice, grown out from its bubbling center.

"T'Soni!" bellowed a voice with a subtle reverberation. A man-shaped alien in red armor flared with green power, an asari in white by his side, glowing in blue. The two raised their arms, green energy ripping at the black flesh like an illuminated plague. The asari's blue power came next, her warp field joining the prothean's decay, the friction of energies bursting, leaving a weeping gash within the Homunculus.

The turian returned with two human men and a krogan, each with guns that expelled shaking slugs. The fire caused the black flesh to ripple, winding cries and growls resounding. "Watch out, it stretches!" he proclaimed.

The krogan marched, the rocks quaking in his steps, chasing the hands that crawled along the floor, stomping on the fingers and shooting the arms. With every pounding blast of his shotgun, he declared, "Let. Go. Of my. BATTLEMASTER!"

A turian woman sprinted next to Ashley, her wrist strapped with a bright orange blade, batting away creeping fingers from the human soldier while she fired at the main body. A crowd of stringy limbs wormed towards the turian, and she raised her omni-blade, a fire sparking against the tip, and she made a wide arcing stroke, spreading flames along every outreached hand. With a groggy howl, each limb coiled and scrunched like slugs against the sting of salt.

"Nice work, Lieutenant!" said Ashley, her voiced raised with hope. "So, you don't like fire, huh? Hey, Zaeed! You got incendiary grenades?"

"Hell yeah I do!" he answered.

"Hey, I can help with that, too!" cried James as he flicked on a flame symbol on his rifle. Grunt did likewise, laughing.

Ashley and Zaeed unstrapped grenades from their belts. They chucked them at the main body as one, the shells cracking open against its chest, wrapping it with blasts of red and orange. The heated ammunition of James and Grunt expanded the flames until the Homunculus was swallowed by fire. It roared and flailed about, its body shrinking. Its many arms curled into brittle charcoal until its fingers snapped off and turned to ash. It wriggled about, screams turned to meek, shivering whimpers.

Shepard could only watch as his fleshy prison turned to dust. Release from his prison, yet too weak to move, his body plummeted downward.

"Bastian!" cried Ashley.

"Shepard, no!" shouted Garrus and Grunt.

"Shepard!" yelped Liara and James.

"Commander!" said Javik as he flicked his wrist, a stream of his power flying to Shepard, cradling him in midair, carrying him as he drifted down to the cave's rocky surface.

"Bastian!" said Ashley again as she ran to Shepard, her palms against his head as he came to the ground, the green waves slowly departing. "Oh, Bastian!" she said as she cradled the back of his skull, her other hand on his chest. "Are you okay?"

"Oh no," said Nachthex as she approached, "look, his prosthetic hand is gone!"

"Damn it, there's a lot of blood," said Garrus. The turian looked towards where the Homunculus fell and found a twitching, squeaking little ball of black dust. He raised his talon-like foot and squished it.

"Signaling the Normandy for pickup now," said James, his voice shaking. "Just hang on for a little bit, okay, Loco?"

"Bas, stay with me," said Ashley, her body trembling. Shepard, with his consciousness drifting, vision clouded, felt her fingers shake in his hair, and saw the mist collecting in her wide, brown eyes. "Come on now, you can't leave me, you don't have my permission. Not after all we've been through."

Shepard's throat lumped with a hard swallow. "Ah... Ashley," he wheezed out.

"Bastian," she said, fighting the tears and forcing a smile. "Don't talk. Just breathe. You're going to be fine."

"I can already see the Normandy," said Garrus. "You're gonna be fine."

Shepard heard some of his comrades step outside the cave, shuffling through the snow, shouting into the icy air. Off in the distance, there was a faint whirring, the hum of drive cores. But all he saw was Ashley, puffs of hot air rolling from her lips as she choked on her tears, locks of her umber hair falling over her ear and brushing his bloodied face.

"Ashley," he said again, steady with greater focus.

"Damn it, Bas, can't you listen to me for once?"

His lip trembled as he took another swallow. His armor was cracked, limbs were limp, and body was outline with dust and blood, but he stared at her and smiled. "Ashley Williams, wi... will you marry me?"

"Oh my God," her voice shrunk, words trickled out in a wheezing laugh. "Yes, Bastian Shepard. Yes, I will marry you. But you have to live first."

"I... I will," he wheezed out as his body submitted to pain and weariness, the fog washing over his sight. He heard weeping, a little clapping, and the ship blowing snow in its wake before all his senses went null.


	15. Epilogue

Epilogue

_Commander Williams,_

_Again, I must apologize for what transpired on Alchera. I know you and Head Advisor Vakarian insisted it was not my fault, yet considering what happened to Spectre Shepard, I cannot help feel at least partly responsible. Please accept my condolences. While I can't give any information that Councilor Quentius hasn't already divulged to you, I hope you at least take comfort in that no further sightings of Reaper troopers have been sighted. _

_I am certain Spectre Shepard will make a full recovery. Our meetings have been brief, but he is a resilient man. I know he's retired from the military, but the galaxy would benefit from keeping him a while longer. And the Council seems to like me, I keep getting these special assignments. Perhaps we could work together again someday. It would be a great honor to work with either, or both of you, again. How does it go? A good human is hard to find?_

_Regards,_

_Lieutenant Nachthex Caelus, Palaven Air Fleet_

_Miss Dame Spectre Ser Lady Agent Commander Williams,_

_Sorry, I didn't know which title to use, so I used all of the ones I could think of. Humans are kind of picky with titles, it's confusing._

_Anyway, I did end up taking your advice. Been talking to my parents a lot. A lot a lot. There's been arguing and crying, but I'm happy to be a part of the family again. They're all alive, too, even after everything with the geth and the Reapers. I have you guys to thank for that, so it would be selfish of me to not see them again and try to make it work. I get that now._

_They want me to come live with them, but I don't know. I'm so used to being all over the place. Soldiers are kind of like that too, right? Doesn't mean you don't love them. You just do what you can, right?_

_Plus I really like being around Aisha. Speaking of which, what do you human girls like as gifts? To show you want to "go steady"? I asked a human store clerk once, he showed me some expensive jewelry and laughed at me. I'd sooner trust your input._

_And to answer your question, quarians have all been adding "vas Rannoch" to their names, in the spirit of unity and being one big family and all that feely junk. Some older folks combine it with their ship names. I guess I'm a part of that family no matter where I go. It's not such a bad thing, after all._

_Thanks for everything,_

_Neekos'Parha vas Rannoch_

_Shepard!_

_Thanks for helping us out on Tuchanka. Not that we needed the help, but I'm not so proud as to turn it away. Speaking of pride, it looked like yours was damaged when Wrex insisted Grunt come along with you. I don't think he sent him for the reason you think he did._

_Past couple months, I'd been working with those two. Rebuilding, mostly, and giving our esteemed leader a slap on the hump every now and then. Our race isn't going to populate itself, you know? I mean, it is, but you know what I'm saying, right? _

_But Shepard, that pup would not shut up about you. You are all he talks about, sunrise to sunset. I bet he crapped his armor when he saw you coming in that ship. Wrex just wanted a few days of silence. Can't say I blame him, but he's probably jealous, too. Generations of krogan will sing of you as much as Wrex. Maybe more. So don't go feeling all sorry for yourself. You're not some whiny salarian who bleeds out with a single shot, you're Commander Shepard! Better to think yourself the greatest and go out doing something stupid, than think you're pyjak shit and never do anything._

_-Olyndik Crux_

_Mister Shepard,_

_This message is for when you wake up, and I know you will do it. _

_Not that you need proof or anything, but I want you to know that Commander Williams came here constantly, waiting for you to wake. I'm a witness! Your friends stopped by often, too. Miss T'Soni, Mister Vakarian, Mister Taylor... I think they talked about a krogan or two coming to visit, as well? They may have to check with security..._

_Anyway, she was by your side constantly. She would have stayed if not for hospital rules and her duties. I didn't want to intrude, but I would often see her come in with a book, one that looks a lot like the ones we sell here. A collection of Tennyson, I believe._

_I know things must still be difficult for you two, and not that I'm an expert on the matter. But I think I know what love is. And I think she loves you like nothing else. So when you get up, you should just go ahead and propose to her. She's not going to care where or how you do it, and I just know she'll say yes!_

_See you soon,_

_Aisha Abdul-Latif_

_P.S. I'm getting an invitation to the wedding, right?_

_Miss Ashley,_

_I'm writing this on behalf of Tali and myself. She's been wanting to talk to you and the others, but she's too weak to get out of bed. She overexerted herself with news of the geth. Damn, I almost had a panic attack along with her, I was not expecting them to just come back. Must've been something you guys did. You'll have to tell me about it later._

_Heard Shepard got into some trouble. I'm sorry, maybe if I had come with you, you might have gotten to him sooner but I wouldn't have forgiven if anything happened to Tali. Figure you're in the same spot as I am right now, worrying about things you can't fix. Weird feeling, isn't it? As a soldier, you know the people you care about are always worrying, wondering if you'll come home. For something to happen to them, that's not right._

_But I'm sure he'll be fine. He has to, when he's got someone like you. He won't keep you waiting too long, Miss Ashley, I'm sure._

_Despite the unusual circumstances, I enjoyed working with you and your team. You're a hell of a shot, it'd be a privilege to see you in action again someday. Failing that, you and Shepard should come back to Rannoch, once he's better. Tali already misses you guys._

_Until next time,_

_Kal'Reegar vas Evstafi_ _Rannoch _

Veils of darkness overcame Shepard as he opened his eyes. Bitter chills ran along his muscles, his skin covered in goosebumps against their touch. He arced his back, yet no sensation of movement reached him. He only felt icy, invisible fingers upon him, paralyzing him in the abyss. Like shades from the void wrapping themselves around him, suspending him in the unknown.

A wisp of pale green light emerged like an illuminated seedling from an unforgiving earth. His eyelids crinkled and his pupils dilated at the sight of it. The faint glow that emanated burned away the chill, leaving a tickle on his face. It sprouted a tail and little wings, and with it, the darkness was pierced with a thousand others just like it. They fluttered about, bringing light to the abyss, wrapping Shepard in a soft warmth.

"S... souls?" Shepard muttered, his voice still raspy and cracked with weariness. The wisps looped around his arms and flew over his head before they all swirled above. "Hey, where are you all going...?" he said as he watched them fly towards an opening; an expanding tear of white light. "Oh, I think I get it now. You're all free. I'm... glad I could help."

The tear grew, the wisps absorbed in its ethereal glow. As it consumed the empty space, banishing the darkness, Bastian was unable to keep his eyes open, as though he were looking straight into the sun.

"I think he's waking up!" said an unfamiliar voice with softened enthusiasm, further carrying Shepard into consciousness. His head rocked back and forth against a nest of pillows, fingers gripped against a blanket over his chest. He shook one arm, feeling lighter. He cranked his eyelids wide open and found he still only had one hand; one bruised, scratched, wrinkled and calloused set of knuckles and fingers. The other was a stub sprouted from his wrist, encased in white bandages. He sighed as he nestled his head into the pillows and looked out the window at the side of his bed, the scope of the Presidium bathing in golden evening sunlight. The gentle rays were soft fingers against his skin, loosening the cracks and wrinkles on his brow.

"Hey," a familiar voice swayed in, a gentle cooing. Shepard turned; he could see other heads bobbing out from the other side of the hospital's glass walls, but his focus drifted to Ashley as she veered sideways in the door.

"Hey, you," he said, voice raspy and gruff. "Come on in."

An eager smile, she hopped inside the room, grabbed a chair and scooted it over to the side of him, until her knees were digging into the mattress. "You're finally awake."

"So I am. How long was I out?"

"A few days. I came every chance I got, not that you have to believe me..."

"Of course I believe you. Not that I would hold it against you. You still have your duties, you're not retired like me... well, semi-retired, I guess."

"Stop me if it's too early, but do you... remember what happened? On Alchera?"

"Not much, I'm sorry to say. We were traversing the storm, it was so bad we couldn't get any farther in the shuttle. There was... something in the distance, something after us, and things went dark. And then I... I went... I was somewhere dark."

"You mean that thing that dragged you into the cave?"

"No, it didn't look like that cave, but there were... I don't know, Ash, it's going to sound crazy, but I thought I saw... souls."

"What?" Ashley sunk into her chair, eyes wide. "Because you were... dying?"

"Maybe. That creature, it... it talked to me. Talked about reviving the Reapers. It wanted to possess me, so it could go into the world of the living... that must sound crazy."

"No, Bas, I don't think it's crazy at all. I felt something wrong about those Reaper troops. Something evil was causing them to come back to life, and I think you found the answer. And you stopped it."

"You mean... there's none left? They're gone?"

"Might have to be a few sweeps and studies, but yeah, no sightings of Husks or Marauders or anything. And... there's something else. Someone you need to meet again."

"Again...?" Shepard sat himself upward as a clacking resounded in the hall. Joker, his old pilot, walked into the room, leading a woman of sleek silver in with him, her hand in his.

"EDI," said the pilot as he motioned his other hand to the Spectre, "this is Shepard. We used to work together."

The metal woman's head tilted. "I was... part of a team?"

"Yes. We were all a team. We saved the universe from the Reapers, and you were a big part of it."

"That sounds wonderful."

"It was, EDI... well, it was hell at the time, and the ending kind of sucked for a while, but we're working on that."

"Sounds like it would make for an interesting story."

"That it does, EDI, that it does. We'll tell you all about it, but my version is the best."

Shepard laughed, but pain gripped one of his sides and he fell back into the bed.

"Hey, guys," said Ashley, "he's not all better yet. Give us some quiet time, okay?"

"Is that what we're calling it now?" cackled Joker as he and EDI walked out, the others shuffling outside.

"I can't believe it," said Shepard, "EDI... she's back."

"Yeah, you slept through a lot of excitement," said Ashley, "her memory's not all there, as you could see. Tali thinks the... 'links' are still there, but they just need to be reattached. Same with the geth. She hasn't been able to do much yet, though, she's been really queasy with the baby on the way... oh hey, did I not get to mention that?"

"Wow, I have a lot of catching up to do!"

"That you do, Bas. But you have time now, so take it easy. You... really scared me on Alchera. I was trying to be brave, I always believed in you, but then I saw you in that cave, you were all bloody and... it was just Earth all over again. Bastian... I don't want to loose you. Not after all you've put me through."

Shepard smiled. "No more crazy heroism for me, then."

"Sorry, Bas, but your days of saving the galaxy are over."

He chuckled until he gave into a fit of coughing, he had to pound against his chest to stop. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Not a bad run, I think. I've... made some mistakes, things have gotten ugly, and some people... are gone, but..."

"Bastian," said Ashley as she clasped her hands against his. "You have done more than anyone could ever hope to do. You have saved this galaxy and everyone in it. Yes, people have died, things have gone wrong, but the good far outweighs the bad. So please, just retire already," she began to laugh, "stop making the rest of us look so bad."

"Yeah, let us have our moments, will you?" Garrus's voice came from the other side of the wall. Shepard and Ashley both looked over and the turian, seeing he was caught, stepped out of sight.

"Hey now," said Shepard, "it's not like I can take all the credit. I've only gotten as far as I did because of everyone who's worked with me... for however long. All of you... made it possible for me."

"A little recognition is all we ask for!" peeped Liara, waving.

"Of course," chuckled Shepard, squeezing Ashley hands. "But... there is someone who... made it all worth while for me. When things were bad, when we were apart, when I was tired and frustrated, there was someone I could come to or think of, and I found the strength."

"Oh, goodness, Bas," said Ashley with feigned ignorance and fluttering eyelashes. "I wonder who that could be."

"I'm being serious. My whole life, there have been plenty of things to kill for, die for, but you... you made this life worth living. You made surviving the war... it wasn't something I expected, but something I wanted, because of you. And I would've died in that cave if not for you rescuing me. I love you, Ashley. God only knows what I'd be without you."

"Well... dead, apparently," she said, laughing. She put her hand over her mouth to hide some of the flush forming on her face. "So, then... can I assume your proposal was not an effect of delirium?"

"Of course not. I admit, it's not what I had planned. I was still considering the best place to ask you, the best way to say it... damn, I was still looking for a ring, but..."

"Bas, you know... I'm not going to pretend things will be easy. I'm still a marine, and a Spectre. I still need to make my place in this world. I'll be gone sometimes, and we'll fight and..."

"That's okay, Ash. I know you're not one to stop working, to stop proving your greatness. That's part of why I love you. And Reapers or no, the galaxy will always need protecting, and there's no one better than you."

"Bastian..."

"So you go out there and show everyone how great you are, how you deserve every medal and accolade and praise and then some. And when you're ready, I'll be waiting for you. You'll always have me to come home to."

Ashley's eyes welled up, heating flaring on her cheeks. "Oh, Bastian..."

"Damn it," Wrex's voice boomed, "I told myself I wasn't gonna cry!"

"Okay, that's enough from the peanut gallery!" laughed Ashley as she got up, shut the door and reeled a curtain over the windows. Collective whines resounded as she threw herself onto the bed, her chest pressed against Bastian's, her arms on his shoulders. He brought his hand to the small of her back and kept her close with all his strength. The sunlight outlined their frames and warmed their skin as they kissed, gripping at each other as if for dear life, clinging together.


End file.
